Friday, May 21, 2010

Mass. Group Seeks Common-Standards Communications

Mass. Group Seeks Common-Standards Communications

This group is led by Sandra Stotsky who has attacked NJ and is a hired gun by the NJ anti-reformists.

Panel to Translate Research Into Policy Proposals for 12th Grade Preparedness

Panel to Translate Research Into Policy Proposals for 12th Grade Preparedness

WANTED: An Apollo Program for Math


Keith Devlin, Stanford University
The US ranks much worse than most of our economic competitors in the mathematics performance of high school students.
We now have the knowledge to turn that around. We could raise the level of mathematics performance across the board, within a single school generation, so that we are number one in the world. All it would take is a one-time, national investment of $100 million over a five-year period. That’s what it would cost to build and put in place a system that could achieve that change, with the existing school system and the existing teachers. Once built, that system would be self-sustaining.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover | Video on TED.com

Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover | Video on TED.com

The NJ State Department of Education needs to watch this (as do the anti-reformists).
Then again, maybe the NJDOE are the anti-reformists?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Mich. House, Senate Back Plan to Make Algebra II Optional

Mich. House, Senate Back Plan to Make Algebra II Optional

NCTM's new President

President Sets NCTM Agenda

Shaughnessyby NCTM President J. Michael Shaughnessy
NCTM Summing Up, May 2010
This is the first of many opportunities that I will have to share my thoughts with you in the President’s Corner of Summing Up over the next two years. Thank you for your trust and confidence in electing me president of NCTM. I’m looking forward to working with all the great NCTM volunteers and the wonderful NCTM staff on a number of issues and projects during my tenure as your president. 
See more here.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Make Math a Gateway, Not a Gatekeeper


Make Math a Gateway, Not a Gatekeeper

The story is a familiar one: A high-school dropout and single mother works the supermarket late shift. Motivated to earn a four-year degree so she can have a better life for herself and her 4-year-old daughter, she enrolls in a community college after earning a GED. Three years later, she still hasn't completed the sequence of three remedial math courses required before she can take college-level math. Defeated, she says, "I just couldn't do it anymore." For this student and too many others, the dream stops here.
Read more here

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

N.J. exit exam's high failure rate raises concern

The June graduation of thousands of students could be at risk after most who took New Jersey's retooled alternative exit exam during the winter failed to pass, according to data obtained by the Education Law Center.
In January, 10,308 students statewide took the math Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA), the test given to students who do not pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Of those students, 9,514 took all required parts of the test and only 34 percent passed, according to the law center's data.
Of the 4,293 who took all required parts of the language arts test, only 10 percent passed.
In Burlington and Camden Counties, 13 percent of students who took all language-arts sections passed. In Gloucester County, the rate was 6 percent, according to the data.
On the math, about one-third passed in all three counties.
Among Camden City students, only 4 percent passed the reading and writing test, and 8 percent passed the math.

See more here

N.J. Principal Wants Students Off Facebook

N.J. Principal Wants Students Off Facebook

Maybe he wants to ban Internet use too?