Joanne Jacobs
Happy talk isn't helpful: Tell parents the truth about their kids' learning
Keri Rodrigues, co-founder and president of the National Parents Union, complained on Twitter about the special-education team "who...
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Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 28
- 1 min
'They're here for the Wharton brand, a 4.0 GPA and to party'
Cheating has become the norm for college students, writes Suzy Weiss on Free Press. "Remote learning" during Covid lowered standards and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 28
- 3 min
Who gets in? Try dartboard admissions
The college admissions race is a waste of time, argues Rick Hess, education policy director of the American Enterprise Institute. Except...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 19
- 2 min
How much math?
British students who pass a national math exam at 15 or 16 don't have to take any more math, unless they need higher-level math for...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 16
- 2 min
'Merit' is not the antonym of 'equity'
Four more Virginia high schools failed to tell students they'd won a National Merit commendation, at least not in time to list the honor...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 6
- 2 min
Employer: Don't tell us where you went to college
Rick Singer was sentenced to 42 months in prison this week for helping wealthy parents bribe and scam their children's way into...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 25, 2022
- 2 min
Tell parents truth: Enough with the happy talk
Tell parents the unpleasant truth about learning loss, writes Andrew Rotherham in a story on the state NAEP scores in the The 74. "The...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 25, 2022
- 3 min
Nation's Report Card shows 'appalling' fall in math, reading
Fourth- and eighth-graders' math and reading proficiency fell across the country after two years of disruption, reports the National...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 11, 2022
- 2 min
How to help students succeed: It's not about exam schools
In A Tale of Two High Schools, Renu Mukherjee, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, looks at San Francisco's Lowell High School,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 4, 2022
- 3 min
Is 'equity' the enemy of excellence?
The "exodus of families from traditional public-school districts is a warning message," writes Jessica Levin on EdPost. Focusing...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 1, 2022
- 2 min
Down, down, down
The pandemic -- and the response to the pandemic -- was a disaster for students. We knew that, but now we really know that. Reading and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 1, 2022
- 2 min
The smart get smarter
In the ten years before the pandemic, high achievers did better in math and reading while everyone else slid, writes Fordham's Michael...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 17, 2022
- 2 min
ACT: Pandemic fueled grade inflation
High school grade inflation accelerated during the pandemic, according to ACT. “The findings echo a recent federal study that also showed...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 9, 2022
- 1 min
Teaching about racism: Americans are divided
Americans agree that schools should teach about historic racism and slavery, but divided on present-day racism, writes Matt Barnum on...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 3, 2020
- 1 min
Tutoring, or Test Prep?
I was well into this article before I realized that the British “tuition” must be the American “tutoring”. An east London secondary...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 19, 2018
- 1 min
Grade inflation is expanding
Grade inflation is expanding, especially at high schools with affluent students, concludes a Fordham’s newest study, Grade Inflation in...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 29, 2018
- 1 min
Math licensing test is too hard, say teachers
Does a third-grade teacher need to know high school math? asks Ann Doss Helms in the Charlotte Observer. “Almost 2,400 North Carolina...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 31, 2018
- 1 min
Testing basic skills leads to two-tier system
Schools serving mainly poor and minority students end up teaching the basic skills and schools serving more advantaged students, knowing...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 30, 2018
- 2 min
Show me the test scores
You want my kids to go to your schools? Show me they’re learning, writes Citizen Stewart in a defense of test-based accountability....
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 19, 2018
- 2 min
Elite colleges drop SAT, ACT essay test
The ability to write cogently, quickly and under pressure, helped me get into and through college. However, a growing list of selective...
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