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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 16, 20231 min read
'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'
"We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom," Martin Luther King Jr....
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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 13, 20232 min read
Sneetches are racist! No, they're anti-racist! Or maybe ...
Dr. Seuss's Sneetches learn that outward differences don't matter. There's no need to pay to get a star added or removed from their...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 8, 20232 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 3, 20233 min read
NAACP pushes for literacy reform: Teach our kids to read
Black leaders have transformed reading instruction in northern Virginia, reports Sarah Carr in the Washington Post. The Fairfax County...
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Joanne Jacobs
Jan 3, 20232 min read
Teaching reading in high school
Memphis high schools are teaching reading skills to teenagers who didn't learn to read well in the early grades, reports Sarah Mervosh in...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 14, 20222 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 2, 20221 min read
Florida's special-ed students are doing very well: Is it choice?
In Florida, which pioneered school choice for special-needs students more than 20 years ago, students with disabilities are doing very...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20221 min read
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...
3 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20222 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20222 min read
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...
2 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 18, 20222 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 14, 20223 min read
The magic of reading: Teach first, joy later
In The Superstar, part of her Sold a Story podcasts, APM reporter Emily Hanford explains how a romantic view of how children learn to...
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 7, 20222 min read
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....
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Joanne Jacobs
Nov 7, 20222 min read
Teaching reading should not be political
"So the anti-public school, pro-book banning crowd has latched onto the “science of reading” movement…shocked," tweets Ryan Davis...
9 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 31, 20221 min read
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,...
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 25, 20222 min read
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...
8 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 25, 20223 min read
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...
6 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 18, 20222 min read
Finally, schools are following the 'science of reading'
Phonics is back in classrooms and it's helping young children learn to read, writes Bella DiMarco, a FutureEd policy analyst, in the New...
2 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 2, 20222 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Sep 29, 20223 min read
Who decides what books belong in the school library? Can we talk about it?
You probably can't find Hustler in the school library -- or Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal, write Jay Greene and Robert Pondiscio in...
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