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Joanne Jacobs
Jun 4, 20232 min read
What books are best for children?
Which books should kids be reading, asks Robert Pondiscio. He talked to Casey Churchill, who runs Liberty Common School, a Colorado Core...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 30, 20232 min read
It's summer school or else for would-be fourth graders in Tennessee
Thousands of Tennessee children will be going to summer school -- or repeating third grade, reports Chalkbeat's Marta W. Aldrich. Sixty...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 23, 20231 min read
Test reading and civics at the same time
Only 6 percent of eighth-graders can read Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech and identify two ideas from the Constitution or...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 17, 20231 min read
Presto chango! You're 'graduation ready'
New Jersey just doubled the percentage of students who are "graduation ready" in reading, writes Chrif Cerf, the former state...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 10, 20232 min read
It's 'our fault' Johnny and Juanita can't read, says NYC chancellor
New York City's public schools have been teaching reading badly for decades, ignoring research on how children learn to read, said...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 9, 20232 min read
Why kids need to know 3 x 9 = 27
The ninth-grader needed to multiple 3 x 9 to answer an algebra problem. She didn't have a calculator, and I wouldn't let her go look for...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 5, 20231 min read
History, civics and reading comprehension go together
The more students know about the world, the better they can understand what they read, writes Susan Pimentel in Education Week. The...
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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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 26, 20232 min read
Knowledge isn't just for Republicans
Teaching knowledge is not just for Republicans or conservatives, writes Natalie Wexler on Minding the Gap. Anyone who values equity...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 17, 20231 min read
When fourth graders can't read
Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers have many more students who read poorly because they missed out on decoding instruction when...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 12, 20232 min read
Beyond fat cats on mats: Knowledge closes the learning gap
Teaching phonics is a critical first step in teaching reading, but students need to build knowledge and vocabulary to get from fat cats...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 12, 20232 min read
Will 65% of Tennessee 3rd-graders repeat the year? Not likely
If Tennessee's read-or- repeat law had been in place last year, 65 percent of third graders would have been at-risk of retention for...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 5, 20232 min read
Some teachers resist 'science of reading' laws
Teachers' unions are pushing back against state laws requiring early literacy instruction to be based on the "science of reading," write...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 15, 20231 min read
'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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 14, 20232 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 13, 20232 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 8, 20232 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 2, 20232 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Mar 1, 20231 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Feb 21, 20232 min read
Rewriting Roald Dahl: Nobody's 'fat' or 'female'
Characters can be "enormous" and "beastly," but not "fat" or "ugly," in the new sensitivity-edited versions of Roald Dahl's children's...
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