This month, I went to school for parent-teacher conferences. My second-grader’s self-evaluation form listed several categories: “I follow directions,” “I understand math,” “I like to read,” and one we ...

Commentary: We are losing something important when schools move away from the basics, letting technology fill in the gaps with spellcheck.

This month, I went to school for parent-teacher conferences. My second-grader’s self-evaluation form listed several categories: “I follow directions,” “I understand math,” “I like to read,” and one we ...

Parents and teachers often ask: “What’s the best way for my child or student to learn and retain words from the weekly spelling list? How does one get beyond simply memorizing words for a Friday ...

Imagine you’re a school administrator. You’ve heard for two decades that spelling books are antique and wasteful spending. You believe that they are the same rote memorization workbook pages of the ...

This month, I went to school for parent-teacher conferences. My second-grader's self-evaluation form listed several categories: "I follow directions," "I understand math," "I like to read," and one we ...

Abby McCloskey is a columnist, podcast host, and consultant. She directed domestic policy on two presidential campaigns and was director of economic policy at the American Enterprise Institute. This ...