Joanne Jacobs
Where teacher evaluation works
Teacher evaluation can make a difference — if done well, concludes a National Council on Teacher Quality study of Dallas, Denver, the...
top of page
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 9, 20181 min read
Starting a school — slowly
In a New Orleans charter high’s first year, students beat the state school performance average, writes Matt Candler, a board member, on...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 30, 20181 min read
Defend the status quo or go kid-centric?
Teachers’ unions should adopt a kid-centric policy in response to the Janus decision, writes Paul Reville in Ed Week. Leaders will need...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 14, 20181 min read
Inside Arne: He’s ‘for the kids’
Arne Duncan has written a book called How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 2, 20182 min read
New schools end up like old schools
High-tech schools of the future end up looking a lot like schools of the past, writes Larry Cuban in Regression to the Mean, Part 1 and...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 19, 20182 min read
Integration is not parents’ priority
With charter schools, urban parochial schools and “a few unicorn-y school districts” showing that low-income black and Latino kids can do...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 28, 20182 min read
D.C. schools really are better
District of Columbia schools have improved more than schools in any other city (except maybe Chicago), writes Kate Walsh of the National...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 16, 20181 min read
Requiring the impossible leads to fraud
Washington, D.C. public schools were held up as a model of “expert driven” education reform, writes Max C. Eden and Lindsey Burke on...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 23, 20181 min read
To get to equity, teach ’em to read
Kate Walsh of the National Council on Teacher Quality is tired of apologizing for her “narrow-minded” focus on academic goals as the way...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 23, 20172 min read
Teach for America turns left
Teach for America, founded in 1990 to challenge the educational status quo, has turned left, writes Sohrab Ahmari, a former TFA corps...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 13, 20172 min read
Backpack full of mishmash
Backpack Full of Cash, an anti-charter documentary showing at film festivals, blames charter schools for taking funding from traditional...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 7, 20171 min read
A discombobulated radical
John Merrow’s new book, Addicted to Reform, offers a rosy and unachievable vision for public school change, writes Checker Finn. Merrow...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 26, 20171 min read
Reinventing school districts
The 74 is running excerpts from the book. “Schools work better when their leaders have the autonomy to run their schools; when they are...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 25, 20171 min read
No time to teach
Education reformers should pay attention to the time demands of their reforms, writes Rick Hess in Education Next. “Every hour that’s...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 16, 20171 min read
We’re making progress on education
The U.S. is making “silent progress” on education, argues Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality. She cites...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 6, 20172 min read
Billionaires, here’s how to fund education
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan will spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to fund “whole-child...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 1, 20171 min read
DC’s teacher reforms pay off
District of Columbia Public Schools, “once among the nation’s worst,” are now considered a good place to teach, writes Thomas Toch in...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 24, 20171 min read
Rhee’s DC reforms are paying off
The very controversial, take-no-prisoners education reformer Michelle Rhee deserves credit for making big changes in Washington, D.C....
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 2, 20171 min read
Parents matter more than race, poverty
Growing up in a fragmented, fatherless family is the greatest barrier to success for students, argues Ian Rowe on Flypaper. “Racism and...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 9, 20171 min read
DeVos victory could be defeat for charters
DeVos is “no threat to traditional schools, especially those beloved suburban schools that parents seek out,” writes Richard Whitmire in...
bottom of page