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Quarantines were a disastrous disruption for students
"Remote learning was terrible for many students," writes John Bailey, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, on The 74....

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 11, 20232 min read
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If schools pay students, will they come?
Learning loss and absenteeism are a crisis, writes Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, a member of Boston's school board, on the Hechinger Report....

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 30, 20221 min read
8 comments


A longer school year? Some parents aren't interested
Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras wanted to lengthen the school year to give students more time to catch up, reports AP's Bianca...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 22, 20222 min read
3 comments


Third graders are way behind in reading and catching up very slowly
Third graders are way behind in reading, reports Hechinger's Jill Barshay. These students, who were in kindergarten when their schools...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 14, 20222 min read
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Can Jayden read?
Parents are positive thinkers: 92 percent say their kids are doing reading and math at grade level, even after the pandemic, according to...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20221 min read
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Child's play is learning
Playing -- especially child-directed play outside with friends -- is how kids learn, writes Jackie Mader on the Hechinger Report. Playing...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 25, 20221 min read
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Gone girls and boys
District-run public schools lost nine percent of enrollment between spring 2021 and spring 2022, concludes School Disrupted by Tyton...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 19, 20222 min read
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Kids stream more, read less
The rise in screen time -- not just school closures -- is a factor in the decline in achievement, suggests Tim Daly, who runs the...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 18, 20222 min read
2 comments


College students lost learning too, but how much?
Universities aren't even trying to figure out how much students lost when classes went remote, writes Jonathan Zimmerman, who teaches...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 11, 20221 min read
3 comments


The $1 trillion math error
Weak math skills could cost young workers as much as $1 trillion in the coming decades, warns a a new study. National test scores show...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 8, 20221 min read
8 comments


Pandemic amnesty: Is it time?
My resolution for 2021, renewed for 2022, was to be kind and calm. There is enough nastiness and enough hysteria out there without me...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 5, 20222 min read
27 comments


Alabama (!) leads nation in minimizing learning loss
Alabama led the nation in maintaining math and reading achievement during the pandemic, reports Trisha Powell Crain of AL.com. That is,...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 31, 20221 min read
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'Shades of badness' in math, reading scores
The longer urban schools stayed closed the worse their fourth-graders are doing in math, concludes an analysis of National Assessment of...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 31, 20223 min read
6 comments


In search of lost time
Schools need more time to "instruct, support, and engage with students," after more than two years of disruption, writes Rick Hess,...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 28, 20221 min read
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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...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 26, 20222 min read
6 comments


Tell parents truth: Enough with the happy talk
Tell parents the unpleasant truth about learning loss, writes Andrew Rotherham in a story on the state NAEP scores in the The 74. "The...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 25, 20222 min read
8 comments


Saving Xavier
Xavier Byrd, who likes to tinker with old machines and build contraptions, dreamed of being an aerospace engineer, writes Perry Stein in...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 13, 20221 min read
3 comments


Graduation rates fall, especially for needy students
Graduation rates are down in at least 31 states, reports Sarah D. Sparks in Education Week. Low-income and special-needs students have...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 1, 20221 min read
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