Joanne Jacobs
Out the classroom door, but still teaching
While there’s little evidence of a “Big Quit” in education there may be a Significant Shift in how teachers see their options, writes...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 19, 20222 min read
Teach students to meet deadlines, handle stress
When schools closed and classes went online, expectations fell. Some students had trouble accessing classes or younger siblings to tend...
Joanne Jacobs
May 14, 20222 min read
The young Puritans
Overprotected by their parents, Gen Snowflake demands that college “make them comfortable,” argued Greg Lukianoff, a First Amendment...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 14, 20182 min read
In defense of (good) homework
Homework can help students learn and narrow the achievement gap, writes Janine Bempechat, clinical professor of human development at...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 24, 20182 min read
None dare call it ‘yoga’
More schools are teaching yoga in hopes of promoting mindfulness and relieving stress, writes Alia Wong in The Atlantic. However, yoga is...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 13, 20181 min read
Those unhappy college years
Here’s more on the fragility theme: A quarter of college students were diagnosed with mental health conditions within the past year,”...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 11, 20182 min read
Why are kids killing themselves?
The number of teens “hospitalized for thinking about or attempting suicide doubled in less than a decade,” according to a recent study....
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 13, 20181 min read
School gym could shelter homeless families
The principal of a K-8 school in San Francisco’s gentrifying Mission District wants to shelter homeless families in the gym, reports Jill...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 11, 20181 min read
We’re scaring the kids
School shootings are extraordinarily rare, writes David Ropelik, author of How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Always Match the...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 6, 20181 min read
Dump the college interview
Interviews are of “considerable importance” to only 4.7 percent of colleges, while 46 percent of schools said interviews were irrelevant....
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 27, 20171 min read
Testing empowers parents
Testing enables social justice, argues Keri Rodrigues, founder and CEO of Massachusetts Parents United in CommonWealth Magazine. Minority...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 7, 20172 min read
If at first you fail the test …
When students are allowed to retake tests for a better grade, what do they learn? Julie Scagell, a Minnesota mother, wonders if her...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 2, 20171 min read
Higher ed anxiety: What can colleges do?
Students with mental-health problems, especially anxiety and depression, are flooding college health centers. The most selective colleges...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20172 min read
The new homework: reading
Elementary schools are dropping homework in favor of reading, reports Greg Toppo in USA Today. There’s “very little correlation between...
Joanne Jacobs
May 14, 20172 min read
Grade-free transcripts help prep-school kids
High school grades are rising, even as SAT scores remain flat, reports the College Board. In 2013, the average 12th grader earned a 2.90...
Joanne Jacobs
May 13, 20171 min read
Fidget spinners: Do they help or distract?
Fidget spinners — handheld, multi-pronged tops — are supposed to help hyperactive and anxious kids stay focused. Some teachers say...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 26, 20172 min read
Homework ban irks some parents
Banning homework for elementary school kids has divided parents, reports Kyle Spencer in the New York Times. Public School 11, a...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 21, 20172 min read
Stress can make kids smarter (in some ways)
Unstable parenting, poverty, a violent environment and other “adverse childhood experiences” contribute to “toxic stress” that impairs...
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