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STEM students will face sink-or-swim calculus in California
California community colleges will require unprepared STEM majors to be placed in calculus.
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 12, 20242 min read
4 comments


Lowering remedial 'barrier' doesn't raise college graduation rates
Community colleges are starting more students in college-level classes, with remedial help on the side.
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 27, 20242 min read
5 comments


Urban charters boost scores, degrees in Massachusetts
Urban charter school students in Massachusetts earn higher test scores and are more likely to enroll in college and earn a degree,...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 25, 20241 min read
0 comments


Up, up and away: 'Recalibration' is raising AP exam scores
Advanced Placement scores were released this week, and they're higher than ever. But not necessarily because students are learning more....
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 10, 20243 min read
4 comments


When 96% pass science, but only 16% meet standards on the test
San Diego 11th-grade students are passing classes, but failing proficiency tests.
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 14, 20241 min read
5 comments


82% of teachers say K-12 ed is getting worse
Eighty-two percent of teachers say public education has gotten worse in the last five years, according to a Pew survey. Fifty-three...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 8, 20241 min read
13 comments


'Tis better to have tried AP and earned a low grade than never to have tried at all
Taking an Advanced Placement class, struggling with college-level material and earning a low grade on the exam is a learning experience,...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 14, 20242 min read
9 comments

Graduation exams can be 'ladder of social mobility' -- or useless
For more than a century, New York students have taken Regents exams in multiple subjects to prove they were ready for college-level work,...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 4, 20242 min read
2 comments


College fail: Are the Covid kids ready to learn?
"(Are you ready?) Yes, I'm ready . . . I don't even know how to hold your hand Just to make you understand But I'm ready (ready) to learn...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 14, 20232 min read
2 comments


AP tests are tough: Is the bar too high for disadvantaged students?
"The basic philosophy of the Advanced Placement Program is simply that all students are not created equal," said the program's director,...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 21, 20233 min read
6 comments


Dumb and dumber: NY rethinks Regents exams
New York students will be able to graduate from high school without passing Regents exams, the state education department proposes....
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 16, 20232 min read
16 comments

SAT scores fall, as the number of test takers rebounds
Despite the surge in colleges going "test optional," the number of students taking the SAT "is growing back to pre-pandemic figures,"...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 27, 20231 min read
0 comments


To control college costs: Work harder, dump gen-ed, fire DEI staff
College costs keep rising, even as more young people question a degree's value. The James Martin Center for Academic Renewal asked for...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 12, 20232 min read
7 comments


Math disaster in college: Would-be STEM majors can't add 1/2 + 1/3
After a year of remote algebra, "Diego" struggled with advanced algebra. Despite a week at George Mason University's Math Boot Camp, the...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 6, 20232 min read
54 comments


The broke-woke-stroke convergence: Why professors lower standards
College professors are "inflating grades and watering down their courses," write Mark Horowitz, Anthony L. Haynor and Kenneth Kickham in...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 31, 20231 min read
5 comments


College-going is down, and that could be a good thing
The U.S. could close the college readiness gap -- if the college-going rate keeps falling, writes Fordham's Michael Petrilli. Of course,...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 2, 20232 min read
5 comments


Prep disadvantaged kids for Ivy futures
Elite colleges should create and fund middle and high schools to educate disadvantaged students, writes Roland Fryer, a Harvard economics...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 6, 20231 min read
3 comments


Should I go to college? Class of '23 worries about costs, feels less prepared
The Class of '23 missed the last part of ninth grade, and many missed chunks of 10th and 11th grade as well. Forty-two percent say...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 8, 20231 min read
8 comments


What's the purpose of high school?
Teaching "self-sufficiency and competence" should be the goal of high school -- not merely college prep -- writes Selim Tlili, a biology...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 6, 20232 min read
18 comments


The readiness is (almost) all
Who goes to college? Enrollment rates vary widely by family income, race and ethnicity and gender, but among students of similar academic...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 31, 20232 min read
2 comments
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