grading | Joanne Jacobs

Joanne Jacobs

'B' is for below grade level (and chronically absent)

"Rosie" averaged an 83 in core classes and tested more than two months above grade level in fifth grade in 2019. She was absent three...

Joanne Jacobs

A-F grades don't provide enough useful feedback, say educators

Only 13 percent of teachers say A-F grades are "very effective" in giving useful feedback to students, writes Alyson Klein in Education...

Joanne Jacobs

Homework load keeps getting lighter as grades go higher

Forty-four percent of 13-year-olds (eighth grade) did no homework in 2022, writes Tom Loveless. The numbers are very similar for...

Joanne Jacobs

AI will change testing: Can it grade essays?

Number 2 pencils and fill-in-the-bubble are out, writes Matteo Wong in The Atlantic. Standardized tests are going digital. In a few...

Joanne Jacobs

UK blames lenient pandemic grading for soaring college dropout rate

Earning A-levels was easier for British students during the pandemic. Passing college classes is harder. Worried by a 30 percent college...

Joanne Jacobs

'D' is for 'didn't show up or do the work'

“You’ll have a kid who does nothing for the whole semester, and then last two weeks of May or June, they’ll do a couple assignments and...

Joanne Jacobs

Students learn more from tough graders

Students learn more when their teachers have high expectations, concludes a study in North Carolina, reports Kevin Mahnken. Algebra...

Joanne Jacobs

Education fads will make learning decline worse

"As bad as the pandemic was for student learning," some education fads will make it worse, writes Greg Richmond, superintendent of...

Joanne Jacobs

Teacher: Students can cut class, skip assignments and pass

Giving students a minimum of 50 percent on assignments -- regardless of whether they're turned in -- was a disaster, a former D.C. public...