Joanne Jacobs
New report cards baffle parents: What does 'emerging' mean? (Your kid can't read)
Kris is an "emerging" reader, Carlos is "extending" and Emma is "developing." Is "proficient" Pat the best reader? Nope. Parents don't...
top of page
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 132 min read
Ignorance isn't bliss
Los Angeles Unified will let 10 schools with low-income students drop standardized tests in favor of their own assessments.
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 72 min read
Worried parents may push back on 'phone-free schools'
The phone-free schools movement is spreading: South Carolina just became the latest state to restrict cellphones in school. Students will...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 22 min read
Silicon Valley parents push back on ethnic studies
Parents want to know what will be taught in soon-to-be-mandatory ethnic studies class.
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 102 min read
Why is 'Gender Queer' in the middle-school library?
Parents don't want drag queens or books that feature sex toys in school libraries.
Joanne Jacobs
May 311 min read
Teachers should keep their politics to themselves, say parents
Parents overwhelmingly say teachers should keep their politics out of the classroom.
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 132 min read
Teens love their smartphones -- but some say it's 'peaceful' to be phone-free
Seventy-two percent of teenagers say they often or sometimes feel "peaceful" when they're without their smartphones, according to a Pew...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 182 min read
Muslim parents win right to reject LGBT books for their children
Muslim children won't be required to read LGBT books in elementary schools in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, reports Mairead...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 222 min read
Union-backed group claims choice is 'rooted in racism'
The union-backed Partnership for the Future of Learning has launched an anti-choice campaign charging that "voucher programs" are "deeply...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 15, 20232 min read
Parents trust their child's reading teacher, but should they?
More than 90 percent of parents think their child's elementary school and teacher are doing a "good" or "excellent" job of teaching...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 8, 20232 min read
Competing for kindergarteners
Kindergarten enrollment has fallen by 17 percent in the last six years in district school in New York City, reports the New York Post. In...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 11, 20231 min read
Why I won't hire a tutor for my daughter
Alina Adams' daughter didn't learn any Spanish in ninth-grade Spanish 1. Her New York City school couldn't find a permanent teacher, so...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 6, 20232 min read
Why parents choose virtual schools
Virtual schooling has a bad reputation, writes Ian Kingsbury, a senior fellow at the Educational Freedom Institute, in City Journal....
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 3, 20231 min read
Parents against Pride: 'Leave our kids alone'
Parents -- many of them Armenian immigrants -- protested a Pride assembly at a Los Angeles elementary school, reports Clara Harter for...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 26, 20231 min read
Poll finds strong, bipartisan support for school choice
Democrats and Republicans strongly support school choice, according to a new I&I/TIPP poll, reports Terry Jones. Here's the question,...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 18, 20232 min read
Church, state and public school: Is the wall crumbling?
An Oklahoma board rejected a proposed Catholic charter school, citing the need for clarification on how a tax-funded Catholic school...
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...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 31, 20231 min read
Back in the USA
We returned from Barcelona last night, so I'm a bit jet-lagged -- and where was my breakfast buffet this morning? -- but the blog is...
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 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....
bottom of page