Joanne Jacobs
Looping boosts achievement
Angie Harman started her second year with Destiny Roman, left, and Imani Cole in 2016 as part of a looping pilot for third- and...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 1, 20181 min read
Students — but not teachers — are safer
Students feel safer in school, according to a Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2017, an annual federal report that analyzed 2015-16...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 28, 20182 min read
Teachers debate: Should students get retakes?
Baptiste Delvallé doesn’t let students retake quizzes and tests, he writes in Education Week. Here’s how I explain it to my students. If...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 24, 20182 min read
‘Doing it wrong’
In We’re Doing It Wrong, David Michael Slater goes after 25 bad education ideas and provides his alternatives. A middle-school English...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 21, 20181 min read
Learn, talk, think
Three girls are using prior knowledge, texts and images to rank five Civil War heroes in order of heroism. Then they’ll write essays...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 20, 20182 min read
History is taught as texts without context
Studying texts, without context, is no way to learn history, writes Will Fitzhugh on Diane Ravitch’s blog. But it’s the Common Core way....
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 7, 20181 min read
Reaching out to every child
Teachers chart their relationships with students at a high-poverty North Carolina school, reports Lisa Philip on WUNC. Pattillo Middle...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 3, 20181 min read
Teaching ‘Black Panther’
Black Panther, a huge box office hit, is a “hit with teachers” too, reports Brenda Iasevoli in Ed Week. Teachers are building lessons...
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 16, 20181 min read
Should teachers ban spiral notebooks?
Should schools ban spiral notebooks? After all, writes Thomas Arnett of the Christensen Institute, students often use them “to scribble...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 15, 20181 min read
The high cost of cheap diplomas
“Making graduation too easy” doesn’t just undermine “the motivations of students (and teachers),” writes Robert Slavin, who directs the...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 14, 20181 min read
We know what works, but don’t do it
“Direct Instruction is the Rodney Dangerfield of education,” writes Fordham’s Robert Pondiscio. Despite 50 years of research showing its...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 7, 20181 min read
Sitting in rows is old-fashioned — and effective
Students sitting in rows facing the teacher is horribly out of date, writes Tom Sherrington, a British headmaster, on teacherhead. But it...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 3, 20181 min read
Another bad teacher on TV
A.P. Bio, another bad-teacher sit-com isn’t bad, writes Mark Walsh on Ed Week. Denied tenure at Harvard, a philosophy scholar finds...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 30, 20182 min read
Teacher coaches boost math learning
“Extending the reach of excellent teachers,” the goal of Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture initiative, improves math achievement,...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 28, 20181 min read
Easy-pass policy fails students
In last week’s post on “grading floors,” Memphis teachers debated whether giving minimum grades for minimal achievement motivates failing...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 26, 20182 min read
Don’t wait to get students on track
In the U.S., disadvantaged kids start school behind on vocabulary and cultural experiences, then fall farther behind as they go through...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 25, 20182 min read
Grading ‘floors’ can become learning ceilings
After a grade-switching scandal at two high schools, Memphis Superintendent Dorsey Hopson has issued a moratorium on “grade floors,”...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 22, 20181 min read
Teaching troublemakers
She likes Carla Shalaby’s book, Troublemakers, subtitled “lessons in freedom from young children at school.” A former elementary teacher,...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 8, 20182 min read
Will robots replace teachers?
Robots will replace teachers by 2027, predicts Anthony Seldon, a British educator. Can teaching be automated? asks Kristin Houser, senior...
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