Joanne Jacobs
No return to normal: Homeschooling is still growing
Homeschooling surged during the pandemic, and continues to grow.
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Joanne Jacobs
Sep 211 min read
Covid stress hurt memory, 'flexible thinking' for kids and teachers, says study
Students -- and teachers -- lost reasoning, memory and executive-function skills during the pandemic. Stress? Long Covid? Screens?
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 142 min read
Chicago spends $29k per student for 19% math proficiency
Chicago Public Schools doubled per-student spending since 2012, according to a report by the Illinois Policy Institute. Achievement is...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 222 min read
Four years after 'two weeks to flatten the curve' ...
Four years ago, schools across the country closed their doors. It was supposed to be for two weeks or three or . . . Most schools stayed...
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
Nov 10, 20231 min read
'There's got to be a pony in there'
Public schools face a long, tough road to recover from school closures and pandemic chaos, writes Fordham's Dale Chu. Post-pandemic...
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
Sep 6, 20232 min read
Math disaster in college: Would-be STEM majors can't add 1/2 + 1/3
After a year of remote algebra, Diego Fonseca struggled with advanced algebra. Despite a week at George Mason University's Math Boot...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 21, 20232 min read
DIY schooling leaves home: Microschools, co-ops, hybrids, pods ...
When schools went remote, many parents took charge of their children's education, and learned how to find online and community resources,...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20231 min read
UK blames lenient pandemic grading for soaring college dropout rate
Earning A-levels was easier for British students during the pandemic. Passing college classes is harder. Worried by a 30 percent college...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 26, 20232 min read
Trouble with teachers: Why there's no post-Covid rebound
A crisis in classroom teaching quality is forcing school systems to "abandon once-ambitious student recovery plans," concludes a report...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 13, 20231 min read
Education's 'long Covid' -- students aren't catching up
Don't call it "learning loss," they said. It's just "unfinished learning." Kids will catch up quickly. They'll be fine. First through...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 14, 20231 min read
Less schooling, less learning
“The Longer Students Were Out of School, the Less They Learned,” concludes Harry Anthony Patrinos, an education economist for the World...
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
Jun 8, 20231 min read
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
Apr 29, 20232 min read
Teens don't want to work, drive, have sex with a real-life person
Not long ago, teen-age boys dreamed of buying a car and "roaring away from school during lunch period, with a girl riding shotgun, on our...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 20, 20232 min read
Many students need tutoring, but few are getting it
Intensive tutoring is the best way to help students who suffered learning setbacks during the pandemic, but school districts are...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 13, 20231 min read
Dropout rate is up: Disrupted teens gave up on school
The high school dropout rate is up, reports Julian Shen-Berro on Chalkbeat. Students who fell behind when classes went virtual feel...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 18, 20231 min read
Science says: Masking didn't help stop Covid spread
The value of masking during the pandemic was "approximately zero," according to a Cochrane review of high-quality research, reports John...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 19, 20222 min read
Middle-school math is a disaster
Disrupted learning's effect on middle-school math skills is worse than you think, writes David Wakelyn on The 74. "As many as 1 million...
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