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Joanne Jacobs
Dec 5, 20231 min read
Yale, Harvard offer the gentlewoman's 'A'
Nearly 80 percent of grades at Yale are A's, reports Evan Gorelick in the Yale Daily News. That ranges from 52 percent in economics and...
13 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 29, 20232 min read
'B-flation' misleads parents: 89% say their child is at grade level
Seventy-nine percent of parents say their child is receiving mostly B's or better, and 89 percent believe their child is at or above...
7 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 16, 20232 min read
Disarming grades
"Handwringing" about grade inflation is "inflated," suggests Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post. She offers a piece by Jack Schneider...
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 26, 20232 min read
America needs strivers
Rewarding mediocrity is a losing strategy for America, writes Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion 3.0, on Education Next. U.S....
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Joanne Jacobs
Oct 25, 20232 min read
'A' is for 'awesome,' 'awful' and 'average'
"The most popular high school grade in America" is "A," writes Tim Donahue, who teaches high school English at Greenwich Country Day...
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Joanne Jacobs
Aug 31, 20231 min read
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...
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Joanne Jacobs
Aug 31, 20231 min read
Up, up and away: More A's, lower test scores
High school grades went up in all subjects from 2010-2022, reports ACT. Achievement did not. Grade inflation was the highest in math:...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 17, 20231 min read
We can't 'replace academic mastery with critical thinking about nothing in particular'
The American education system has turned away from academics and lost its way, says David Steiner, executive director of the Institute...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 17, 20231 min read
Is your honor-roll student at grade level? Maybe not
“87% of Sacramento County parents think their kids do math at grade level,” reads one billboard. “28% of kids actually do." The goal of...
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Joanne Jacobs
Apr 3, 20232 min read
Grades and grad rates rise, and that's not good news
Grades are up! Graduation rates are rising! But that's not good news. Test scores are down, across the country, writes Hechinger's Jill...
7 comments
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 6, 20232 min read
Happy talk isn't helpful: Tell parents the truth about their kids' learning
Keri Rodrigues, co-founder and president of the National Parents Union, complained on Twitter about the special-education team "who...
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