Joanne Jacobs
Bullying, violence are up: 1 in 10 teens are afraid to go to school, says CDC
Teens aren't quite as sad or suicidal as they were in 2021, reports the CDC, but violence, bullying and school avoidance are up.
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Joanne Jacobs
Aug 82 min read
Biden's education grade: 'D' for 'doesn't care about achievement'
President Biden's education agenda deserves a D.
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 52 min read
Summer school helps, if students show up
Urban charter students made significant gains in reading and math in a summer program that combined instruction and enrichment, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 262 min read
Harris thrills teachers' union, sticks to progressive orthodoxy
"God knows, we don't pay you enough," Kamala Harris told teachers at the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston. That went...
Joanne Jacobs
May 191 min read
In college, but not in class: Kids with 'snowplow parents' give up easily
Absenteeism -- physical and mental -- is high for college students too.
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 212 min read
As absenteeism soars, schools want money for no-show students
Funding schools based on enrollment rather than attendance would be "more equitable," a superintendent told Rick Hess as they waited to...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 171 min read
Parents get a new message: Slightly sick kids should be in class
Worried about a nationwide epidemic of absenteeism, more schools are telling parents to send slightly sick children to school, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 12 min read
Students are catching up in math, reading -- but gaps are wider
Reading and math scores are on their way up, reports the Education Recovery Scorecard. On average, students in grades three through eight...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 102 min read
Truancy is the 'new normal' -- and a growing business
Tracking down absent students and persuading their parents to get them to school every day is a booming business, writes Alex MacGillis...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 9, 20231 min read
'B' is for below grade level (and chronically absent)
"Rosie" averaged an 83 in core classes and tested more than two months above grade level in fifth grade in 2019. She was absent three...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 23, 20232 min read
To help left-behind students, get 'butts in seats'
You can't win if you don't play. The only way to improve student achievement is to "get butts in seats," writes Jessica Grose in the New...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 9, 20232 min read
For failing students, lockdown was freedom, school is 'prison'
School is "like being in prison," says 14-year-old Kieran, who has dyslexia and ADHD. He prefers doing physical labor with his father....
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 8, 20232 min read
How Detroit school is trying to get students to show up
Mentors, home visits, data analysis and movie visits for students and grocery gift cards for parents are among the strategies used to get...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 8, 20231 min read
Missing persons: Will absentees show up this year?
Chronic absenteeism -- missing 18+ days of a 180-day school year -- is way up, writes Ed Navigator's Tim Daly. Twenty-five percent of...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 4, 20231 min read
'D' is for 'didn't show up or do the work'
“You’ll have a kid who does nothing for the whole semester, and then last two weeks of May or June, they’ll do a couple assignments and...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 3, 20232 min read
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
There are three terrifying things about the long-term federal test data on 13-year-olds' achievement, writes Vladimir Kogan, an Ohio...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 14, 20232 min read
Still disrupted: Students are missing a lot of school
Schools haven't returned to normal reports Alia Wong for USA Today. An alarming number of students are "missing vast stretches of their...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 13, 20232 min read
The students who never returned
A quarter-million students who left public schools during the pandemic are missing, according to an analysis of 21 states and the...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 30, 20232 min read
Teacher: Students are learning they don't need to show up or do the work
No-consequences attendance policies have encouraged students to skip class, teacher Loren Green told the Albany, New York school board....
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 26, 20231 min read
If strike closes LA schools, it could be 'nail in the coffin'
A threatened strike by Los Angeles Unified's service workers -- custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and special-education aides --...
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