Joanne Jacobs
Smart kids left alone: What schools are doing -- and not doing -- for 'advanced learners'
"Highly capable" students will lose advanced learning opportunities in Seattle Public Schools. To address "historical inequity," all...
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Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 21
- 2 min
As absenteeism soars, schools want money for no-show students
Funding schools based on enrollment rather than attendance would be "more equitable," a superintendent told Rick Hess as they waited to...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 8
- 2 min
Leveling up: How to get 'diverse' kids to advanced math
"Equity" doesn't mean lowering standards in Union district near Tulsa, reports Hechinger's Neal Morton. Most students in accelerated math...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 21
- 2 min
A professor writes: What I really think about DEI
James Hankins, a Harvard history professor, posts an honest diversity statement addressed to "dear members of Harvard's Faceless...
Joanne Jacobs
- Dec 19, 2023
- 1 min
A diploma for you and a diploma for you! States drop exit exams
Grades are up and tests are out. "More states could abandon high school exit exams as a graduation requirement, writes Libby Stanford in...
Joanne Jacobs
- Nov 28, 2023
- 2 min
Segregation now: Evanston High offers all-black and all-Latino classes
Black students can opt to take all-black classes -- with a black teachers -- in math and writing at Evanston Township High School near...
Joanne Jacobs
- Nov 14, 2023
- 1 min
Advanced math puts all achievers on path to equity, excellence
All high achievers should be placed in challenging math classes that prepare them to take algebra in eighth grade, write Brenda Berg and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 5, 2023
- 1 min
Texas tracks for equity: 'I didn't know honors existed'
California progressives are eliminating advanced math in middle school in the name of equity. In Texas, equity means expanding access to...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 5, 2023
- 2 min
'Data literacy' will widen STEM gaps
I was willing to swear a solemn vow to not major in math or science in college, I told my teacher. All I asked was to get out of trig....
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 25, 2023
- 2 min
Is this equity? White liberals think it's 'racially enlightened' to lower standards
In Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity, Washington Post reporter Laura Meckler, a Shaker Heights native, writes...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 25, 2023
- 2 min
Schools spend $20 billion a year for equity training, but does it work?
Public schools spend billions on equity training, but have no idea what works, writes Katherine Reynolds Lewis in USA Today. "None of the...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 21, 2023
- 2 min
You want equity? Teach more -- not less
The foolish idea that teaching kids less math will advance "equity" has spread from California, which has adopted watered-down guidelines...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 7, 2023
- 2 min
Equity! Equity! What about the math?
There's a lot of talk about "equity" in the latest draft of California's proposed math framework. In addition to a guarantee of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 14, 2023
- 2 min
'Algebra for none' fails in San Francisco
The goal was equity. The result: Meh. Frustrated by high failure rates in eighth-grade algebra, San Francisco Unified decided in 2015 to...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 11, 2023
- 1 min
Who gets tech internships?
"Big tech" internships offer excellent pay, challenging work and valuable networking opportunities, writes Natasha Singer in the New York...
Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 20, 2023
- 1 min
Anti-merit push is alienating Asian voters
Democrats are losing Asian-American voters, writes Ruy Teixeira on Liberal Patriot. Asians, like Hispanics, are not radicals, he writes....
Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 7, 2023
- 2 min
1 classroom, 5 achievement levels: The learning chasm
Trying to teach students who are way above and way below grade level in the same classroom puts an impossible burden on teachers, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 23, 2023
- 2 min
Algebra: Gateway or barrier?
“What is so magical about algebra as a math requirement?” asked Eloy Ortiz Oakley, former chancellor of California’s community college...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 23, 2023
- 1 min
Mediocrity for all isn't equity
In Culver City (CA), ninth- and tenth-grade honors classes were eliminated, reports Sara Randazzo in the Wall Street Journal. Officials...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 23, 2023
- 1 min
Open doors to challenging academics
Challenging classes can help many students -- not just the "gifted" -- excel, writes Vincent Dotoli on Fordham's Flypaper. He heads...
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