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To win back public-school parents, be like Mississippi
Education reforms are working in the South, and they can work in blue states too, if there's political leadership.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 26, 20253 min read
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Mississippi rising: Look South for progress in reading achievement
Mississippi should be a role model for the nation in how to teach reading, along with Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, but old stereotypes persist.

Joanne Jacobs
May 13, 20252 min read
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Dump the devices and bring back textbooks
Good, old-fashioned printed textbooks are valuable learning guides.

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 20, 20252 min read
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Teachers can't do it all: Let them focus on teaching
Teachers should focus their time and energy on teaching, not DIY curriculum design.

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 13, 20252 min read
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Who was the Good Samaritan? Let there be Bible stories in Texas schools
Texas' board of education has narrowly approved a new K-5 curriculum that includes Bible stories , reports Shaun Rabb for Fox News....

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 2, 20242 min read
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How schools can help poor kids beat the odds: Consistency, collaboration, priorities
Schools that help disadvantaged students achieve focus on consistently good teaching, a strong, shared curriculum and lots of collaboration.

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 1, 20242 min read
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U.S. history teachers prefer DIY curriculum to textbooks
U.S. history teachers are using "digital sources and primary documents" rather than textbooks , according to a report by the American...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 24, 20242 min read
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Silicon Valley parents push back on ethnic studies
Parents want to know what will be taught in soon-to-be-mandatory ethnic studies class.

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 2, 20242 min read
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Bible stories should be cultural literacy, not forbidden fruit
Teaching students about religion is fine in public schools, writes Natalie Wexler. "Inculcating specific religious beliefs" is not....

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 21, 20242 min read
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Teachers can ignore curriculum, push their own ideology
Even when schools adopt a well-designed, balanced curriculum, many teachers will ignore the curriculum and do their own thing, writes...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 20, 20241 min read
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It's time to dump 'ethnic studies' mandates
Ethnic studies will be offered in all California high schools by the 2025-26 school year, and will be a graduation requirement by 2030,...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 20, 20242 min read
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It's cultural literacy, not Bible lessons, say Texas educators
Texas will add Bible stories and religious history to its K-5 reading curriculum.

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 5, 20242 min read
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Kids can learn a lot more math -- and have fun -- in kindergarten
Kindergarten math may be too easy, writes Holley Korbey for the Hechinger Report. The focus is on reading. Math expectations are low. In...

Joanne Jacobs
May 6, 20241 min read
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DIY math: Many high school teachers rewrite the curriculum
Many teachers are creating -- or downloading -- their own math materials, according to a recent survey, writes Hechinger's Jill Barshay....

Joanne Jacobs
May 6, 20241 min read
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Beyond decoding: Teaching knowledge, vocabulary builds comprehension
In Portage, Michigan, fourth graders are reading about hurricanes -- including words such as "atmosphere" -- in their English Language...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 17, 20242 min read
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What is the right balance between ingredients and cake?
What's the right balance between teaching knowledge and teaching skills? That's the wrong question, writes Daisy Christodoulou on No More...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 14, 20232 min read
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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
May 4, 20232 min read
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'Our nation's children are all our children'
"There's no such thing as someone else's child," said President Joe Biden in honoring the new Teacher of the Year, an Oklahoma math...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 27, 20232 min read
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We're not that far apart on how to teach our history
The "history wars" are a fight between "imaginary enemies" concludes More in Common, after surveying Americans. "Both Democrats and...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 13, 20222 min read
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To do better, do less
Subtraction is powerful, writes Justin Reich on the ACSD blog. Administrators and teachers are "exhausted and overwhelmed" -- and being...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 15, 20221 min read
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