Joanne Jacobs
Safe at school — but nowhere else
School is a safe haven from the streets, students at Baltimore’s Excel Academy tell Kevin Rector, a Baltimore Sun reporter. Seven...
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Joanne Jacobs
Feb 27, 20181 min read
Closing the gap in Chicago
Two Chicago charter schools are closing the achievement gap for low-income, black children, according to a new book, The Ambitious...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 27, 20182 min read
Low-scoring school is better — but not good
Locke High has improved in its 10 years as a Green Dot charter school. But it remains a very low-performing school, report Kyle Stokes...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 7, 20181 min read
New Mexico: Apply to college or else
New Mexico will make applying to college a high school graduation requirement, under a bill moving through the Legislature. “Exceptions...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 15, 20182 min read
Most improved cities: Chicago? Or New Orleans, D.C.
New Orleans and Washington, D.C. — not Chicago — are the fastest-improving urban districts, argue Emily Langhorne and David Osborne of...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 5, 20172 min read
How effective is your school?
Three-quarters of Chicago Public School students come from low-income families. As third graders, they test below the second-grade level...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 5, 20171 min read
Not a gang school any more
Enrollment is soaring at Benito Juarez Community Academy. Photo: Amadou Diallo/Hechinger Report Choice has emptied many low-performing...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 5, 20171 min read
Strivers succed in Chicago charters
Chicago’s charter high schools are helping underdog kids get to college, according to a study by the University of Chicago Consortium on...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 2, 20172 min read
9th-grade GPA predicts college success (or failure)
Grades, attendance, test scores and graduation rates are up in Chicago Public Schools. Helping ninth graders raise their grades is paying...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 28, 20172 min read
Internships motivate — but scores are low
Student internships “saved” a low-performing Chicago school that serves low-income students, writes Hechinger’s Chris Berdik in The...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 14, 20171 min read
Welcome to Refugee High
Chicago’s Sullivan High has raised its enrollment and test scores by welcoming immigrants and refugees, reports Elly Fishman for Chicago...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 6, 20171 min read
Chicago mayor: No diploma without a plan
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to add a new graduation requirement for public school students, reports the Chicago Tribune. By 2020,...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 26, 20172 min read
How high schools hide dropouts
High schools are inflating graduation rates and test scores by steering low achievers to alternative schools, reports ProPublica and USA...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 23, 20171 min read
Work, study, dream — and stay poor
Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Photo: Linda Lutton/WBEZ “School is what makes the American Dream possible,” writes WBEZ reporter...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 19, 20161 min read
Chicago’s empty high schools
Although Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is “essentially bankrupt,” the district is operating dozens of half-empty schools, reports Chicago...
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