July 9, 2018
Grow Detroit’s Young Talent offers city’s youth work experience
Jobs are being created all over the city, including those for Detroit’s youth. Flanked by foundations, employers, and other partners, Mayor Mike Duggan announced the start of the 2018 Grow Detroit Young Talent’s (GDYT) summer jobs program.[...]
April 26, 2018
Once at rock bottom, this Northern Michigan elementary now produces stars
In a recent Bridge Magazine story, Brian Jacob and Nell Duke commented on the poor performance of Michigan schools, the state's inequitable funding model for students, and the lack of investment in teacher continuing education.[...]
March 27, 2018
Principals: More of Your Students Might Be Abused or Neglected Than You Think
In Education Week, Brian Jacob and Joseph Ryan discuss how abuse and neglect affects achievement in schools.[...]
March 22, 2018
How life outside of a school affects student performance in school
In Brookings, Jacob discusses how life outside of a school affects student performance in school.[...]
Feb 1, 2018
Building knowledge to improve degree completion in community colleges
Brian Jacob discusses how the Detroit Promise Path and the City University of New York's ASAP model support low-income community college students.[...]
Sep 20, 2017
The Consequences of Chronic Absenteeism
Brian A. Jacob joins EdNext editor-in-chief Marty West to discuss the causes and consequences of chronic absenteeism in school. Listen to the podcast here.[...]
May 22, 2017
In New York City Pre-Ks, Adding 123s to the ABCs
Robin Jacob’s work on early math featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York City Department of Education is expanding an early-childhood math program, Building Blocks, to more public pre-kindergarten classrooms, despite inconsistent evidence that it helps math skills.[...]
View an archived version of the article here. The original article can be viewed here.
Jun 9, 2017
Brian Jacob on Michigan Radio: MI reforms of under-performing schools have been unsuccessful
On June 6, Brian Jacob spoke with Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio about recent research that explores whether Michigan's[...]
The work regarding this article is published here, in an NBER working paper Jacob wrote with Steven Hemelt, former Education Policy Initative Postdoctoral Fellow.
Apr 28, 2017
Seven key ingredients for effective collaboration
How university scholars and policy practitioners approach partnership for the public good[...]
Feb 22, 2017
Brian Jacob speaks with Michigan Radio, poor marks for Michigan's reading, math proficiency
"Are Michigan’s schools improving? According to a new analysis of national testing data, the answer is a clear 'no,'" says Michigan Radio's "Stateside"[...]
Listen to a segment by Michigan Radio, "On national reading and math test, Michigan only state where students have not improved", here.
Feb 3, 2017
Brian Jacob on how the U.S. Department of Education can foster reform in the Trump era
In "How the U.S. Department of Education can foster education reform in the era of Trump and ESSA," Brian Jacob describes Michigan's disappointing performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. According to Brian Jacob's analysis, Michigan "ranks dead last in terms of proficiency growth since 2003."[...]
Jacob's piece "How the U.S. Department of Educationc an foster education reform in the era of Trump and ESSA" can be found here.
Nov 30, 2016
Youth Policy Lab announces application for new technical assistance program
The Youth Policy Lab has issued a request for proposals to organizations seeking to use data to improve service delivery or program design for Michigan youth. Applications for the Michigan Technical Assistance Partnership (M-TAP) Program[...]
Related News from the Youth Policy Lab can be found here.
Oct 13, 2016
U-M launches Youth Policy Lab to improve young lives
Researchers at the University of Michigan have launched a new lab designed to help state and local agencies, social service providers, nonprofits and educators improve life outcomes for Michigan youth, from birth through age 25.[...]
Sep 21, 2016
"Class sizes in Michigan, the quiet crisis," policy brief and online comparison tool
New research from the Education Policy Initiative at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy found that many Michigan K-12 students experience very large core classes—with 40 or more students—but that some students are at greater risk.[...]
Jul 11, 2016
Inaugural Detroit Data Fellow will assist Motor City police with real-time data analysis
University of Michigan alum Reid Wilson was selected as the first Detroit Data Fellow and will spend the next two years analyzing Detroit Police Department data to help understand crime patterns in real time.[...]
The website representing the University of Michigan's partnership with Detroit can be found here.
May 6, 2016
For Brookings, Brian Jacob describes "the opportunities and challenges of digital learning"
On the 20th anniversary of the publication of his first op-ed on the use of classroom computers, Brian Jacob, who is engaged in several digital learning research initiatives, explores “The opportunities and challenges of digital learning.” Brian Jacob’s piece appears in Evidence Speaks, a weekly series published by the Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families.[...]
Mar 9, 2016
Michigan Radio interviews Brian Jacob about latest research on MI high school curriculum reforms
Last week, Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski and two colleagues from Michigan State released a new paper, "Are expectations alone enough? Estimating the effect of a mandatory college-prep curriculum in Michigan." The paper examines the effect of the 2006 Michigan Merit Curriculum reforms on subsequent student achievement.[...]
Feb 2, 2016
Robin Jacob quoted in NPR story on executive function coaching
A story on the NPR website, “The Science of Getting Kids Organized,” looks at coaching students to build executive function—categories of skills the brain uses for general organization and judgment. Robin Jacob, who published an overview of studies on executive function training, is quoted: "We're always looking for the panacea. We move from fad to fad, and I feel like executive function is sort of the fad of the day. We should be cautious before we invest a lot of money in such interventions, before we really have the solid evidence base to show that it works."[...]
Oct 30, 2015
Brian Jacob co-authors op-ed criticizing proposed mandatory retention in Michigan schools
In an op-ed titled "Why rush to hold kids back?" published by The Detroit News on October 29th, Brian Jacob and Michael Lombardo applaud a new state legislature bill proposing Michigan’s first comprehensive reading program.[...]
Jun 29, 2015
EPI, Excellent Schools Detroit release K-12 scorecard
The 2015 Excellent Schools Detroit (ESD) K-12 Scorecard — which the Ford School’s Education Policy Initiative (EPI) helped develop — was released last week. More than 200 schools, including private and charter schools, were evaluated and assigned “A” through “F” letter grades.[...]
May 24, 2015
Robin Jacob quoted in Boston Globe story on executive function coaching
In a story in the Boston Globe, “Executive function not a panacea for education ills,” the author discusses the prospective benefits of programs designed to strengthen students’ executive function cognitive skills, the popularity of and rapid adoption of the concept over the past few years, and lack of concrete evidence of program effectiveness in improving academic outcomes.[...]
His feature is found in the original article here.
Mar 30, 2015
Robin Jacob quoted in Washington Post story
A story in The Washington Post, “Can volunteers help kids read more proficiently? New research says yes,” includes quotes from Robin Jacob. “Bringing volunteer programs to scale is often quite difficult, so that’s really the exciting thing about the research coming out now,” she said.[...]
Sep 04, 2014
Robin Jacob quoted in New York Times story on early literacy
In an article focusing on how to improve early literacy, The Fix author Tina Rosenberg includes research conducted by Robin Jacob and others on the effectiveness of tutoring to improving early literacy.[...]
Read the story here.
Apr 22, 2013
Brian A. Jacob helps city schools become data driven
In an era of shrinking public education budgets, school districts cannot afford to make the wrong decision when they hire a teacher or cut a program. To make sure they reach the right answers, administrators are turning to Annenberg Professor Brian A. Jacob, whose data analysis has helped guide urban public school reforms across the country.[...]
View the original story here.