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Joanne Jacobs
Feb 5, 20242 min read
$250K for 'woke' training: Reading, math scores fall even lower
Training teachers to "disrupt whiteness" isn't helping children learn at a Bay Area school, reports Jill Tucker in the San Francisco...
5 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 17, 20242 min read
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...
9 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Dec 15, 20232 min read
Parents trust their child's reading teacher, but should they?
More than 90 percent of parents think their child's elementary school and teacher are doing a "good" or "excellent" job of teaching...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Dec 8, 20231 min read
Training teachers in 'science of reading' improves reading
Low-performing California schools improved third-graders' reading by training teachers in how children learn to read, according to a new...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 20, 20232 min read
Missing dyslexia
Schools are failing to diagnose dyslexia, which makes it hard for as many as 20 percent of students to master reading, writes Sarah Carr...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 20, 20232 min read
Only 1.2% to repeat 3rd grade due to Tennessee 'reading gate'
Sixty percent of Tennessee third graders faced the prospect of repeating the grade, but only 1.2 percent failed to get past the "reading...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 1, 20233 min read
How to kill the bad-teaching monster: Don't forget the garlic
To kill a vampire permanently dead, you'll need to hammer a wooden stake in its heart, shoot it with a silver bullet melted down from a...
4 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 18, 20232 min read
Repeating a grade can help elementary students succeed
Holding kids back if they're way behind in reading is very controversial, but new research shows that repeating a grade in elementary...
11 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 17, 20231 min read
You can't give 'Hop on Pop' to a 7th-grader
Middle schoolers who read at the first, second and third-grade level won't read "baby books" and can't read grade-level books, says...
7 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 17, 20232 min read
Why so many parents mistrust schools: They didn't teach our kids to read
"When schools fail to teach reading, it harms the public's trust in schools," writes Kendra Hurley in Slate. Her children's Brooklyn...
7 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 9, 20232 min read
Rosalinda wants to be an astronaut, but she doesn't read very well
Massachusetts, which claims to have the best public schools in the nation, is "failing its neediest learners," write Mandy McLaren and...
7 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Sep 5, 20232 min read
Let AI do it: High schoolers don't need to write essays any more
"Good-bye and good riddance" to teaching students to write essays, writes Daniel Herman in The Atlantic. Herman, who teaches English at a...
20 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Aug 28, 20232 min read
More students are in 'big, big trouble' in reading, math, and they're not catching up
Students are learning again, but most are not catching up for learning lost during the pandemic, conclude three new reports comparing...
3 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jul 13, 20231 min read
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...
4 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jul 3, 20232 min read
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
There are three terrifying things about the long-term federal test data on 13-year-olds' achievement, writes Vladimir Kogan, an Ohio...
8 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 27, 20232 min read
Mississippi rules in reading
Mississippi students used to rank dead last in learning, writes Phil Bryant, the former governor of the state, on Real Clear Education....
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 24, 20232 min read
Summer school is open, but will students who need it most show up?
This will be the last year of Covid-funded summer school before the pandemic relief money runs out, writes Jo Napolitano on The 74. Some...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 22, 20231 min read
A 'lost generation' of learning: Scores fall, gaps widen for 13-year-olds
America's 13-year-olds are moving backwards educationally, according to a new report on long term trends by the National Assessment of...
4 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 20, 20232 min read
'It's heartbreaking to realize I never taught my students to read'
Hoping to share her love of reading, Bridget Scanlan became an "intervention" teacher working with struggling readers and special-ed...
3 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 7, 20233 min read
Charters are outperforming traditional public schools
Charter schools are outperforming traditional public schools, according to a new study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes...
13 comments
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