civics | Joanne Jacobs

Joanne Jacobs

Test reading and civics at the same time

Only 6 percent of eighth-graders can read Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech and identify two ideas from the Constitution or...

Joanne Jacobs

History, civics and reading comprehension go together

The more students know about the world, the better they can understand what they read, writes Susan Pimentel in Education Week. The...

Joanne Jacobs

Educating citizens: We can do better, but will we?

"The new National Assessment of Educational Progress civics and history results are as deplorable as they were predictable," writes...

Joanne Jacobs

40% of 8th-graders are 'below basic' in history

Eighth-graders don't know much about U.S. history and civics, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which...

Joanne Jacobs

'Ethnic studies lens' vs. 'e pluribus unum'

Washington state plans to make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement, but it's not clear what that means, writes David J....

Joanne Jacobs

It's only Schoolhouse Rock (but I like it)

I'm so old I don't know the words to Conjunction Junction. Schoolhouse Rock, animated musical shorts on grammar, history, civics,...

Joanne Jacobs

Teach civics -- not activism

"Fixating on activism misses the point of civics education," write Frederick M. Hess, a former civics teacher now education policy...

Joanne Jacobs

Fuzzy civics: Teachers don't value knowledge

I learned about separation of powers, checks and balances and the three separate and equal branches of government -- executive,...

Joanne Jacobs

We used to share a story about America, but not any more

New laws restricting how teachers can discuss "divisive issues" try "to impose a singular narrative of the United States, because —...