top of page


Joanne Jacobs
Feb 122 min read
What did we get for $190 billion in school aid? Very little
Pandemic learning loss averaged half a year for most students, but the neediest students lost more in reading and math.
1 comment

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 292 min read
Reading, math scores are out: 'The news is not good'
Reading scores are still falling on the "nation's report card," while math scores are the same.
5 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jan 282 min read
Dumber and dumber: Americans, young and old, are slipping
Achievement is falling, and gaps are widening, for American students and adults since well before the pandemic.
13 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Aug 21, 20242 min read
Racial achievement gaps: Poverty, parents explain some (not all) of differences
Socioeconomic status explains some of the Black/White achievement gap and most of the Hispanic/White achievement gap.
0 comments

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 4, 20242 min read
How to teach math well: There are wrong answers
Engineering, computer science, accounting, finance and medicine will not be options for people who couldn't find the lowest common...
15 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Feb 28, 20242 min read
Lots of kids left behind: Why achievement gaps grew
Achievement gaps are large and growing across the country, writes Chad Aldeman on The 74. It's not the pandemic: Scores have been falling...
15 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Nov 28, 20232 min read
Segregation now: Evanston High offers all-black and all-Latino classes
Black students can opt to take all-black classes -- with a black teachers -- in math and writing at Evanston Township High School near...
2 comments


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...
5 comments

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 6, 20232 min read
Homework load keeps getting lighter as grades go higher
Forty-four percent of 13-year-olds (eighth grade) did no homework in 2022, writes Tom Loveless. The numbers are very similar for...
8 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Sep 25, 20232 min read
Schools spend $20 billion a year for equity training, but does it work?
Public schools spend billions on equity training, but have no idea what works, writes Katherine Reynolds Lewis in USA Today. "None of the...
6 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Aug 28, 20232 min read
Cover-up in California: State botched remote learning, tried to silence critics
After Oakland schools closed in March, 2020, eight-year-old Cayla J. had two remote classes. Then, according to her mother, the teacher...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jul 5, 20232 min read
Educate the 99%, who got no help from affirmative action
"Affirmative action," a euphemism for racial preferences, "is a misguided, discriminatory policy whose end is long overdue," writes...
6 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 22, 20231 min read
CREDO: Some charters are achievement 'gap busters'
Black, Hispanic and low-income students gain the most in reading and math compared to similar students at district schools, concludes a...
0 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Jun 22, 20231 min read
A 'lost generation' of learning: Scores fall, gaps widen for 13-year-olds
America's 13-year-olds are moving backwards educationally, according to a new report on long term trends by the National Assessment of...
4 comments


Joanne Jacobs
Mar 23, 20232 min read
All children can learn -- but how much?
Not all education problems are solvable, if we just try hard enough or spend enough, argues Freddie DeBoer in a column on optimism bias. ...
11 comments
bottom of page