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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 3, 20232 min read
Black homeschoolers plan microschool, if Texas OKs ESAs
Texas may provide $10,400 per student for parent-directed education, if Gov. Greg Abbott can push a compromise bill through a third...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 3, 20231 min read
Urban charters produce more brains for the buck
Urban charter schools use "fewer dollars to achieve better outcomes" than traditional public schools enrolling similar students,...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 10, 20232 min read
How AZ parents spend ESAs: Specialty schools, private schools -- and karate lessons!
How are Arizona parents spending Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) money? They're paying for educational products and services,...
5 comments

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 14, 20232 min read
KIPP schools are game changers
KIPP charters are game changers, concludes a new Mathematica study. Compared to similar students who applied to KIPP but lost the...
21 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Sep 9, 20232 min read
For failing students, lockdown was freedom, school is 'prison'
School is "like being in prison," says 14-year-old Kieran, who has dyslexia and ADHD. He prefers doing physical labor with his father....
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Aug 25, 20232 min read
Death wish: Contempt for parents will destroy public ed
Public schools are trouble. Trust is low. Enrollment is falling. Parents are embracing new alternatives. Is transgender policy the hill...
13 comments

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 21, 20233 min read
Homeschooling is so much work
In Hard Lessons from a Veteran Homeschooler, Larissa Phillips talks about the challenges of educating her two children in rural New York....
4 comments

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 21, 20232 min read
DIY schooling leaves home: Microschools, co-ops, hybrids, pods ...
When schools went remote, many parents took charge of their children's education, and learned how to find online and community resources,...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Aug 8, 20232 min read
Competing for kindergarteners
Kindergarten enrollment has fallen by 17 percent in the last six years in district school in New York City, reports the New York Post. In...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 22, 20231 min read
CREDO: Some charters are achievement 'gap busters'
Black, Hispanic and low-income students gain the most in reading and math compared to similar students at district schools, concludes a...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 18, 20231 min read
First the Catholics, now the Jews: More religious charters in OK?
Oklahoma has approved the first religious charter school in the nation, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The online school...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 13, 20231 min read
Teachers are thriving in charter, private schools
Teachers, Facing Increasing Levels of Stress, Are Burned Out, according to a March story in the New York Times. That seems to be true for...
6 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 6, 20232 min read
Why parents choose virtual schools
Virtual schooling has a bad reputation, writes Ian Kingsbury, a senior fellow at the Educational Freedom Institute, in City Journal....
4 comments


Joanne Jacobs
May 3, 20231 min read
Canceling SkippyJon: Everyone wants to censor something
Skippyjon Jones, about a Siamese cat who thought he was a Chihuahua, was a huge hit when it came out in 2003, recalls James V. Shuls. His...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Apr 26, 20231 min read
Poll finds strong, bipartisan support for school choice
Democrats and Republicans strongly support school choice, according to a new I&I/TIPP poll, reports Terry Jones. Here's the question,...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Apr 21, 20231 min read
Museum plans charter school, loses public school field trips
Worcester (Mass.) public school students won't be going on field trips to nearby Old Sturbridge Village any more, reports Neal McNamara...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Apr 20, 20232 min read
Don't ignore the smart kids
Victoria McDougald thought kindergarten would be exciting and joyful for her son, "an eager, rapid learner," but she learned that the...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Apr 18, 20231 min read
Choice and common culture
We need to find a way to have school choice and to teach our "shared inheritance" as Americans, writes Fordham's Checker Finn. He worries...
10 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Apr 18, 20232 min read
Church, state and public school: Is the wall crumbling?
An Oklahoma board rejected a proposed Catholic charter school, citing the need for clarification on how a tax-funded Catholic school...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Mar 31, 20231 min read
Back in the USA
We returned from Barcelona last night, so I'm a bit jet-lagged -- and where was my breakfast buffet this morning? -- but the blog is...
3 comments
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