Joanne Jacobs
'Parents can't solve a problem they don't know they have'
Many parents don't realize how badly their children are doing in school, reports AP's Bianca Vazquez Toness. Teachers don't like to...
top of page
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 14, 20232 min
Why even kids who like to read hate English class
English teachers are teaching kids to hate reading, writes Pamela Paul, a New York Times op-ed columnist, in response to Nathan Heller's...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 13, 20232 min
When 3rd-graders can't read, should they repeat the grade?
Third graders who read more than a year below grade level will be passed on to fourth grade in Michigan, where Democratic Gov. Gretchen...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 8, 20232 min
Harvard students can't handle 'The Scarlet Letter' -- but prisoners can
“The last time I taught The Scarlet Letter, I discovered that my students were really struggling to understand the sentences as sentences...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 2, 20232 min
From wombats to koalas: Does knowledge 'transfer' for young readers?
"Chatty Chick chats in church" in a poem used by reading tutors. Last year, the second grader I was tutoring was shocked at Chatty...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 1, 20231 min
The author of 'Cat in the Hat' is back
Dr. Seuss has been uncanceled for Read Across America Day, which falls on his March 2 birhday. The White House proclamation quoted the...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 28, 20233 min
Who gets in? Try dartboard admissions
The college admissions race is a waste of time, argues Rick Hess, education policy director of the American Enterprise Institute. Except...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 8, 20232 min
If liberal arts are dying, is it suicide?
Liberal educators aren't making the case for liberal arts education, writes John Agresto, former president of St. John's College in Santa...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 14, 20222 min
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 1, 20221 min
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, 20222 min
Once they can decode ...
Once students can sound out words, the next step is teaching comprehension, writes Matt Bardin on The 74. Once a middle and high school...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20222 min
Leave the straw man alone: Teach those kids to read
Students don't need to sound out words, letter by letter, teachers were told. They don't need to be taught phonics systematically. If...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 18, 20222 min
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 7, 20222 min
Los Angeles schools will follow reading science, says Carvalho
"If we are going to follow the science, then we should really embrace all science, including the science of reading," said Alberto M....
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 31, 20221 min
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 25, 20222 min
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, 20223 min
Nation's Report Card shows 'appalling' fall in math, reading
Fourth- and eighth-graders' math and reading proficiency fell across the country after two years of disruption, reports the National...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 2, 20222 min
Louisiana eyes requiring summer school for struggling readers
Louisiana students not reading at grade level in K-4 would be required to attend summer school -- or repeat a grade -- under a proposal...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 23, 20222 min
Is technology the future of early literacy?
Speech-recognition technology could analyze young children's reading, rate their pronunciation of each sound and word, track their...
bottom of page