Joanne Jacobs
AI tutoring: The smart get smarter
AI tutoring can help motivated, capable students learn faster, but is worse than a human tutor for most students.
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 102 min read
Want equity? Teach more math, not less
As a math teacher in the early 2000s, Adrian Mims saw few Black and Hispanic students succeeding in Brooklin (MA) High School's honors...
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 92 min read
AI can make human tutors more effective, but can it help kids directly?
AI tutoring has struggled to work, but a new study shows it can help human tutors be more effective.
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 92 min read
Tutoring is booming: Parents are paying to give their kids an edge
Many more parents are paying for in-person or online tutoring.
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Joanne Jacobs
Sep 42 min read
'Terrible awful no good very bad' advice for teachers
Chicago teachers are getting very bad advice on how to teach with AI.
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 242 min read
'Covid kids' aren't catching up: 8th graders are 1 year behind pre-pandemic levels
This year's eighth graders were in fourth grade when their schools shut down. As they head to high school, the average student is nine...
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Joanne Jacobs
Feb 12 min read
Students are catching up in math, reading -- but gaps are wider
Reading and math scores are on their way up, reports the Education Recovery Scorecard. On average, students in grades three through eight...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 8, 20231 min read
'Literacy liberators' are as effective as teachers in tutoring early readers
An Oakland parent group hired and trained tutors from the community to work with early readers, reports Linda Jacobson on The 74....
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 29, 20232 min read
'B-flation' misleads parents: 89% say their child is at grade level
Seventy-nine percent of parents say their child is receiving mostly B's or better, and 89 percent believe their child is at or above...
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 24, 20232 min read
AI tutors will help motivated students, but . . .
"Motivated learners" will be able to "substitute AI for human tutors and teachers," predict Sean Geraghty and Mike Goldstein, co-leaders...
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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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 12, 20232 min read
Tutors for toddlers: Crazy parents will raise crazy kids
"The race to the Ivy League starts early," writes Asia Grace in the New York Post. Affluent parents are hiring tutors for their toddlers...
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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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 26, 20232 min read
Trouble with teachers: Why there's no post-Covid rebound
A crisis in classroom teaching quality is forcing school systems to "abandon once-ambitious student recovery plans," concludes a report...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 21, 20232 min read
You want equity? Teach more -- not less
The foolish idea that teaching kids less math will advance "equity" has spread from California, which has adopted watered-down guidelines...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 11, 20231 min read
Why I won't hire a tutor for my daughter
Alina Adams' daughter didn't learn any Spanish in ninth-grade Spanish 1. Her New York City school couldn't find a permanent teacher, so...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jul 3, 20231 min read
Good news in Tennessee
Tennessee's focus on tutoring and summer school is paying off, report Marta W. Aldrich and Kae Petrin on Chalkbeat. Scores are up for the...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jun 28, 20232 min read
Set a bot to monitor a bot: Is the TA hallucinating?
Are two bots better than one? Georgia Tech is hoping its old-tech AI tutoring bot will keep its new-tech AI chatbot from "hallucinating,"...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jun 1, 20232 min read
Schools pair virtual teacher with in-person 'learning coach'
The geometry teacher is in Maryland. The students are in California. A small San Jose charter school is using virtual teachers and...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 30, 20232 min read
Chicago invests in small-group tutors, while LA shifts to classroom teachers
Chicago Public Schools are relying on "academic interventionists" to help students catch up in reading and math, reports Mila Koumpilova...
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