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Teach the children: 'Is the Soviet Union a country?'
Teaching is "oppressive." Teachers should "guide" students to discover things on their own, based on their interests, but shouldn't...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 16, 20242 min read
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Core Knowledge students learn more -- a lot more
Students taught a structured, knowledge-rich curriculum starting in kindergarten earned higher reading, math and science scores in third...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 15, 20241 min read
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Teaching science and social studies improves reading (and math)
After a long battle to persuade educators they need to teach phonics, systematically and explicitly, the science of reading has moved on...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 12, 20242 min read
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How to teach math well: There are wrong answers
Engineering, computer science, accounting, finance and medicine will not be options for people who couldn't find the lowest common...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 4, 20242 min read
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Artificial stupidity: Google's Gemini colors history
Google's new artificial intelligence tool, Gemini, isn't allowed to generate images of people any more until programmers worked the bugs...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 24, 20242 min read
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To spot 'fake news,' students need to know things
It's Media Literacy Monday in journalism class at Cupertino's Monta Vista High School, and Silicon Valley students are analyzing...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 21, 20242 min read
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Reading revolution: It's a lot more than 'back to basics'
States are jumping on the "science of reading" bandwagon, writes Sarah Schwartz for Education Week. New York, Massachusetts, Indiana,...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 2, 20242 min read
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The Finnish miracle is finished, but why?
Finland! Finland! Finland! Twenty years ago, Finland's top-of-the-world PISA scores made it "the most widely celebrated and imitated...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 18, 20242 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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Gen Z: Whites are 'oppressors' -- especially Jews
"White people are oppressors," say 79 percent of young Americans 18 to 24 years old in a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll. "Nonwhite...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 17, 20232 min read
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The young and the senseless
Ignorance rather than malice could why one fifth of young Americans think the Holocaust is a "myth," and another 30 percent aren't sure,...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 11, 20232 min read
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'Fast learners' started out ahead
There are no fast learners, according to new research, writes Hechinger's Jill Barshay. Learning rates are remarkably similar --...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20232 min read
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True or false? Credible or cockamamie?
California teachers are supposed to incorporate "media literacy" into lessons in history, English, science and math, reports Saleen...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 30, 20232 min read
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'Liberal arts' education is now 'classical,' which makes it 'right wing'
"Classical" charter schools are a right-wing plot to "destroy democratically governed public schools while turning back the clock of...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 27, 20232 min read
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Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat Internet memes
"America's K-12 education system is uniquely ill-suited to help students make sense of complicated world events and navigate contentious...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 15, 20233 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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Please, please, please don't politicize reading instruction
Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters declared the first week of October "Teach Kids to Read Week." This is controversial, reports Sarah...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 13, 20232 min read
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'It's knowledge all the way down'
"Knowledge is what we think with," writes Greg Ashman, an Australian educator, on Filling the Pail. "Thinking in the absence of knowledge...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 28, 20232 min read
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Easy come, easy go: Googling is bad for learning
Students don't need to learn facts, educators have been saying since the Cro-Magnon first learned to search the Internet. "They can just...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 12, 20232 min read
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Doing more of what wasn't working won't help kids catch up
"If we really want to narrow gaps and make up for pandemic-related learning loss, we need to change what and how we teach -- especially...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 13, 20231 min read
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