Joanne Jacobs
Black parents want choices, but Chicago plans to limit options
Black parents are the most likely to choose charter, selective enrollment or magnet schools in Chicago, reports Sarah Karp for WBEZ. She...
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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...
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...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 12, 20232 min read
Tutors for toddlers: Crazy parents will raise crazy kids
"The race to the Ivy League starts early," writes Asia Grace in the New York Post. Affluent parents are hiring tutors for their toddlers...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 11, 20232 min read
Teen angst is normal: 'Wellness' may backfire
Mental health doesn't mean feeling good all the time, writes psychologist Lisa Damour in The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 9, 20231 min read
'B' is for below grade level (and chronically absent)
"Rosie" averaged an 83 in core classes and tested more than two months above grade level in fifth grade in 2019. She was absent three...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 5, 20232 min read
Mom knows everything: Apps let parents track kids' schoolwork -- and drive them crazy
If only parents were involved in their children's education, teachers said, students would do so much better. If only teachers...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 3, 20232 min read
Black homeschoolers plan microschool, if Texas OKs ESAs
Texas may provide $10,400 per student for parent-directed education, if Gov. Greg Abbott can push a compromise bill through a third...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 31, 20232 min read
Why are Dept of Defense schools so good?
The highest-scoring school district in the country isn't a school district, reports Sarah Mervosh in the New York Times. The "Defense...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 19, 20232 min read
Teens spend 4.8 hours a day on social media, says Gallup
U.S. teenagers average 4.8 hours a day on social media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter),...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 24, 20232 min read
Pro-trans parents won't get custody edge in California
Mom wants to start "Oliver" on puberty blockers. Dad thinks "Olivia" should go through puberty before deciding whether to be male, female...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 13, 20232 min read
Love, marriage, honor roll: Culture closes 'excellence gaps'
Culture explains why Asian-American students do so well in school, writes Helen Raleigh, who's Asian American, in The Federalist. It's...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 8, 20232 min read
How Detroit school is trying to get students to show up
Mentors, home visits, data analysis and movie visits for students and grocery gift cards for parents are among the strategies used to get...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 29, 20233 min read
Autism is a disability -- not a 'natural difference to be celebrated'
Autism rates keep climbing -- nearly 3 percent, of all eight-year-olds in the latest estimates -- yet there's no sense of crisis, writes...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 2, 20232 min read
Goofus and Gallant break the bad-good binary
My sister and I shared a subscription to Highlights Magazine. I always checked out the two-panel comic strip to marvel at Goofus'...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 1, 20232 min read
NJ sues school district for 'outing' students to their parents
If Ella wants to be called Elliot or Elliot goes from "he" to "they," teachers in three New Jersey districts are supposed to tell the...
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
May 24, 20232 min read
'At lunch hour, everyone eats alone, scrolling TikTok'
But, Mom, everyone else has a smartphone. Parents are trying to say "no" to smartphones for elementary and middle schoolers, but it's...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 20, 20232 min read
Don't ignore the smart kids
Victoria McDougald thought kindergarten would be exciting and joyful for her son, "an eager, rapid learner," but she learned that the...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 8, 20233 min read
The politics of parenting
Permissive parenting -- known as "gentle" or "mindful" or "intentional" parenting -- is spreading among left-of-center parents, writes...
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