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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 20, 20242 min read
Lowering expectations doesn't lead to 'equity'
It's easier to get A's and harder to get an education, writes Fordham's Michael Petrilli. Expectations started falling and grades...
15 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Mar 19, 20242 min read
Drop the admissions essay, and bring back the SAT
It's time to dump college admissions essays, writes Matthew Levey on The 74. Test scores and good grades in challenging courses are...
11 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Feb 13, 20242 min read
No extra credit for Kleenex: 'Equitable grading' is honest -- not easy, says advocate
"Equitable grading" isn't a strategy to inflate grades and lower expectations, argues Joe Feldman, author of Grading for Equity and CEO...
3 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Feb 8, 20242 min read
Leveling up: How to get 'diverse' kids to advanced math
"Equity" doesn't mean lowering standards in Union district near Tulsa, reports Hechinger's Neal Morton. Most students in accelerated math...
18 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 24, 20242 min read
'No excuses' school guru passes on: Will excellence survive?
Linda Brown, who trained hundreds of charter leaders as leader of (Building Excellent Schools (ES), has died at the age of 81. Many of...
1 comment


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 21, 20242 min read
A professor writes: What I really think about DEI
James Hankins, a Harvard history professor, posts an honest diversity statement addressed to "dear members of Harvard's Faceless...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 15, 20242 min read
DEI backlash
In the name of DEI -- diversity, equity and inclusion -- many colleges and universities "have violated their constitutional commitments...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 8, 20242 min read
SAT/ACT scores predict success, open doors for 'diverse' students
Want equity? Require college applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. The progressives' "war...
8 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 5, 20242 min read
The Great Renaming: Adios to DEI, hello to 'Belonging' bureaucrats
Is DEI dead -- or just disrupted? Texas' state colleges and universities were forced to close diversity, equity and inclusion offices...
8 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 2, 20242 min read
Gay's gone: Is diversity hiring dead?
Claudine Gay has resigned as president of Harvard University after new charges of plagiarism. "Confronting hate and . . . upholding...
5 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Dec 19, 20231 min read
A diploma for you and a diploma for you! States drop exit exams
Grades are up and tests are out. "More states could abandon high school exit exams as a graduation requirement, writes Libby Stanford in...
17 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Dec 18, 20232 min read
Choice, selective schools perpetuate 'inequity,' says Chicago mayor, school board
"Equality in misery" is the new plan for Chicago Public Schools, writes Paul Vallas, who lost the race for mayor to Brandon Johnson, a...
32 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 28, 20232 min read
Segregation now: Evanston High offers all-black and all-Latino classes
Black students can opt to take all-black classes -- with a black teachers -- in math and writing at Evanston Township High School near...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 26, 20232 min read
Lonely on campus: Students are siloed, silenced
Afraid to offend each other, college students are "siloed and silenced," creating an epidemic of loneliness on campus, writes Samuel...
5 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 21, 20233 min read
AP tests are tough: Is the bar too high for disadvantaged students?
"The basic philosophy of the Advanced Placement Program is simply that all students are not created equal," said the program's director,...
6 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 14, 20231 min read
Advanced math puts all achievers on path to equity, excellence
All high achievers should be placed in challenging math classes that prepare them to take algebra in eighth grade, write Brenda Berg and...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 13, 20232 min read
DEI rejects merit, excellence, hard work, individual dignity
DEI isn't about diversity, equity or inclusion, writes Bari Weiss on Tablet. It is "an ideological movement bent on recategorizing every...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 7, 20232 min read
'Dual credits' aren't very helpful, but that can be fixed
Dual-credit programs are supposed to put students "on the fast track" to an affordable college degree, but many teens are earning credits...
11 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 30, 20232 min read
Scared of Halloween: Ghoulies, ghosties and DEI beasties
Halloween has been canceled at schools in New Jersey's South Orange-Maplewood School District. No costumes, no parades, no...
2 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Oct 24, 20232 min read
'Mastery learning' means lots of testing, and choices about what's essential
U.S. students should get a high school diploma when they meet state standards in core subjects, writes Checker Finn. It doesn't matter...
14 comments
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