Joanne Jacobs
Achievers need a chance to go faster, fly higher
"Differentiating instruction" in a class with a wide range of performance levels doesn't work for high achievers -- or anyone else.
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Joanne Jacobs
May 22 min read
Smart kids left alone: What schools are doing -- and not doing -- for 'advanced learners'
"Highly capable" students will lose advanced learning opportunities in Seattle Public Schools. To address "historical inequity," all...
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 82 min read
Leveling up: How to get 'diverse' kids to advanced math
"Equity" doesn't mean lowering standards in Union district near Tulsa, reports Hechinger's Neal Morton. Most students in accelerated math...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 212 min read
A professor writes: What I really think about DEI
James Hankins, a Harvard history professor, posts an honest diversity statement addressed to "dear members of Harvard's Faceless...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 19, 20231 min read
A diploma for you and a diploma for you! States drop exit exams
Grades are up and tests are out. "More states could abandon high school exit exams as a graduation requirement, writes Libby Stanford in...
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...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 14, 20231 min read
Advanced math puts all achievers on path to equity, excellence
All high achievers should be placed in challenging math classes that prepare them to take algebra in eighth grade, write Brenda Berg and...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 5, 20231 min read
Texas tracks for equity: 'I didn't know honors existed'
California progressives are eliminating advanced math in middle school in the name of equity. In Texas, equity means expanding access to...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 5, 20232 min read
'Data literacy' will widen STEM gaps
I was willing to swear a solemn vow to not major in math or science in college, I told my teacher. All I asked was to get out of trig....
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 25, 20232 min read
Is this equity? White liberals think it's 'racially enlightened' to lower standards
In Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity, Washington Post reporter Laura Meckler, a Shaker Heights native, writes...
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...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 21, 20232 min read
You want equity? Teach more -- not less
The foolish idea that teaching kids less math will advance "equity" has spread from California, which has adopted watered-down guidelines...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 7, 20232 min read
Equity! Equity! What about the math?
There's a lot of talk about "equity" in the latest draft of California's proposed math framework. In addition to a guarantee of...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 14, 20232 min read
'Algebra for none' fails in San Francisco
The goal was equity. The result: Meh. Frustrated by high failure rates in eighth-grade algebra, San Francisco Unified decided in 2015 to...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 11, 20231 min read
Who gets tech internships?
"Big tech" internships offer excellent pay, challenging work and valuable networking opportunities, writes Natasha Singer in the New York...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 20, 20231 min read
Anti-merit push is alienating Asian voters
Democrats are losing Asian-American voters, writes Ruy Teixeira on Liberal Patriot. Asians, like Hispanics, are not radicals, he writes....
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 7, 20232 min read
1 classroom, 5 achievement levels: The learning chasm
Trying to teach students who are way above and way below grade level in the same classroom puts an impossible burden on teachers, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 23, 20232 min read
Algebra: Gateway or barrier?
“What is so magical about algebra as a math requirement?” asked Eloy Ortiz Oakley, former chancellor of California’s community college...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 23, 20231 min read
Mediocrity for all isn't equity
In Culver City (CA), ninth- and tenth-grade honors classes were eliminated, reports Sara Randazzo in the Wall Street Journal. Officials...
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