Author Archive | Joanne Jacobs

Over at Chalkboard, Joe Williams has a great post challenging the idea that we need to close the achievement gap in order to compete in the global economy. He’s responding to an otherwise good New York Times editorial that calls for enforcing the teacher quality provisions of No Child Left Behind. Why do I think […]

Threatened by “jail time,” Philadelphia parents of chronic truants showed up at a group meeting to hear a lecture on truancy from Mayor John Street. The city sent letters to parents of 6,000 truant parents; about 4,000 people came to hear the mayor’s pitch, accompanied by threats. The Inquirer reports: From now on, (Street) said, […]

Remember the girl crisis? These days educators are trying to redesign classes to engage boys but it wasn’t long ago that all the talk was about how to keep girls from being ignored, silenced and turned off to math and science. On The Quick and the Ed, Sara Mead reviews a 1993 Washington Post Magazine […]

In South Carolina, a mother had her 12-year old son arrested for unwrapping a gift early. Mom is 27. The boy’s great-grandmother is 63. The mother said she’s unable to control her child, who’s been in trouble before, and wants to the juvenile justice system to take over. When I was writing on welfare reform […]

Are graphing calculators introduced too early? Most of the would-be math teachers in ed class thought so, reports “John Dewey.” Then a contrarian classmate spoke up. . . . he really couldn’t see what cognitive value of teaching students the procedure for multiplying 36 x 7 when calculators were available. I was unable to keep […]

As superintendent of one of New York City’s poorest regions, Kathleen Cashin has raised test scores significantly in three years. She isn’t empowering principals to do their own thing, observes the New York Times. She’s making them do her thing, which includes using the Core Knowledge curriculum and teaching students to read non-fiction and write […]

In response to an American Federation of Teachers’ campaign, Build It Up, teacher-bloggers are writing about physical conditions of their classrooms and school buildings. Ms. Cornelius writes of mice and mold. They put flat roofs on buildings in areas that get a goodly amount of snow and rain, then wonder why the roof leaks. Idiocy. […]

To protest mandatory school uniforms, a fifth grader and a seventh grader in New Jersey began wearing “Hitler Youth” buttons with a slash over the photo and the words “no school uniforms.” Their parents have sued the district to block their threatened suspension. One of the mothers, Laura DePinto, issued a statement: “I’ve gotten overwhelming […]

In Louisville and Seattle, students may be denied admission to neighborhood schools on the basis of race in order to integrate schools. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments today on the two cases. AP reports: The Bush administration is siding with parents against the school districts, arguing the policies are an unconstitutional, albeit well-meaning, “racial […]

The new citizenship exam is supposed to focus less on trivia and more on understanding democratic values. Instead of just naming the three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial), would-be citizens may have to explain why there are three branches (balance of power). For example: 1. Name one important idea found in the Declaration of […]