CT Coalition 4 World Class Math

Our Mission
 

Connecticut K-12 math standards should clearly represent a “focused, coherent progression of mathematics learning, with an emphasis on proficiency with key topics” as set forth by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (NMAP) and must include the most important topics underlying success in authentic algebra.  Specifically, our state standards should include the mathematical prerequisites established by NMAP’s Critical Foundations of Algebra and Benchmarks for the Critical Foundations. 

It is our objective that these standards be implemented in such a manner that assures high student achievement thereby enabling Connecticut students to enter the ranks of the highest performing U.S. states and ultimately be competitive with their international peers in the A+ countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                    Coalitions for World Class Math Present

"Design Principles for K-12 Mathematics Standards"

Mathematics education in the United States is at a pivotal moment. The participation of 46 states in the Common Core Hope PosterState Standards Initiative (CCSSI)1  is based on hope that the outcome will improve mathematics and English-language education in our public schools.  However, we fear that this initiative may actually make the situation worse.  This possibility cannot be ignored.

The NJ Coalition for World Class Math worked in conjunction with our sister coalitions to create the World Class Math Design Principles for K-12 Mathematics Standards. The Design Principles are intended to address the major deficiencies and defects that plague far too many of our states' current mathematics standards - including New Jersey's. Our Coalition will use these Principles in evaluating the work of the CCSSI; accordingly, we offer them for consideration to help inform those who represent us, our children, and our public schools at this critical time. 

 

 

 U.S Coalition forWorld Class Math Design Principles Here.

Visit www.USworldclassmath.org  

 1The Common Core State Standards Initiative is being undertaken by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to "develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K- 12 " http://www.ccsso.org/whats_new/press_releases/13359.cfm 



Our comments to the Common Core State Standards Released
USCoalitionComments.pdf

Important Note About The US Coalition's Comments:

The comments we submitted on 10/21/09 emphasized our concern that the Common Core Standards fail to specify the optional, higher-level mathematical content necessary for college-readiness in STEM disciplines.  It has now come to our attention that enrollment prerequisites for BA programs in non-STEM fields of many, perhaps most, state universities also require mastery of numerous Algebra II and Geometry topics that are not included in the current draft.  This includes the California State University and University of California systems, the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems, University of Illinois and Illinois State University systems, Florida State and University of Florida, Ohio State University, and many others.

This omission of significant portions of essential Algebra II and Geometry content renders the Common Core Standards inadequate for students who will enter undergraduate programs in STEM or even non-STEM disciplines in much of the country.  We recommended in our comments that the authors of Common Core Standards follow the methodology Achieve, Inc. used in developing the ADP Benchmarks: Create standards appropriate for all students by specifying essential content up to and including that needed in preparation for study in STEM fields, and identifying as optional those topics required only for students wishing to prepare for study in STEM disciplines.  States should not adopt the "College-Readiness" Standards unless they adequately identify the content required for success in credit-bearing mathematics courses in their state universities.  The current Common Core Standards draft falls significantly short of this requirement for many states.



United STATES Coalition for World Class Math

CT Coalition for World Class Math

 

 

August 15, 2009

Govenor M. Jodi Rell

Office of the Govenor

210 Capitol Avenue

Hartford, CT 06106

Dear Governor Rell:

 

Our national and state Coalitions are closely monitoring the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI).  We hope this initiative improves education in  Connecticut and across the nation by strengthening the content standards in mathematics and English-language arts.

 

Considering that the CCSSI expects to release a draft of core common standards soon, we want to know how, specifically, you plan to evaluate its suitability for Connecticut students. What process do you intend to use for this evaluation?

 

Respectfully yours,

Laura Troidle (Branford) (203) 481-4680
CT Coalition for World Class Math

Co-founder, US Coalition for World Class Math

www.ctcoalitionforworldclassmath.com

www.usworldclassmath.org

 

The Math wars are over.  We understand that.  The CT Coalition 4 World Class Math is 100% behind the resolution. 

Over the past decade enormous energy was spent debating whether or not computational fluency was more important than conceptual understanding, or the other way around. The 2 year effort by the National Math Advisory Panel and the research by NCTM has given us the very best answer, based on research, that is currently available. Students need BOTH conceptual understanding and computational fluency in order to succeed. They are not mutually exclusive, but work together, hand-in-hand. 

The very best experts have weighed in and agree that this is the best resolution and the war is over.
  

We are behind them and agree.
    

"The universe is a far more beautiful and elegant place than any of us can imagine. We must be ready and able to both construct and use mathematics to help explain ever more subtle aspects of it, and the phrase `I will never use it' should be deleted from our students' vocabularies."
James Milgram, Stanford University   


                                      

 CT Coalition Policy Briefing

Developing World Class Students through World Class Mathematics Standards:  Do Connecticut’s Standards, Students, and Teaching Measure Up?

Introduction             Students who graduate from Connecticut high schools need to be well grounded in the mathematics that will elevate them to being among the best in the United States and eventually to being among the best in the world—a goal we have not yet reached.

·         Connecticut needs world class standards to support the state economy and prepare future citizens

·         Knowing and understanding mathematics is a key competency for a highly qualified workforce and citizenry

·         To be effective, standards must be part of a world class system, which also includes textbooks and other learning materials, instruction, assessments, preparation of teachers, and ongoing professional development for practicing teachers—all aligned with higher standards

 

Connecticut needs world class standards in mathematics if the state is to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s skilled workers in a global economy.

To be world class, standards must:

 

       Include important mathematics critical to a 21st Century economy

       Integrate skills, concepts, and applications

       Be focused and coherent with a small number of attainable topics for each grade

       Be taught well by knowledgeable and effective teachers

       Be embedded in a world class system that aligns assessment,

instruction, textbooks and other learning materials

 

It is the position of CT Coalition4 World Class Math that every student should study rigorous, internationally benchmarked mathematics throughout K-12.

 

 

How can we               There is no international definition of high quality mathematics
define world              standards for students. However, it makes sense to examine the

class                          goals for learning and the system for delivery of that learning in those

mathematics              countries whose students demonstrate outstanding performance on

standards?                             international assessments, especially those countries that have been consistently high-performing over time.  Such countries include Singapore, Japan, Korea, Finland, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.

 

                                  Based on this examination, we can say that world class standards meet the following set of criteria:

       Are focused, coherent progression of mathematics learning

       Specify a small number of attainable topics at each grade with topics that can be taught effectively at that grade

       Reflect guidelines such as the Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, Critical Foundations of Algebra and Benchmarks for the Critical Foundations and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ document, and the Curriculum Focal Points, which outlines 3 big ideas at each grade, PK-8

       Are specific enough to guide development of rich assessments, selection of textbooks, preparation of pre-service teachers, and ongoing renewal of licensed teachers

       Provide a carefully sequenced progression of learning for students K-12, to help all to reach the required level of attainment, in particular algebra by the end of 8th grade, and at least 3 credits of high school level mathematics including algebra II, geometry, statistics and probability

       Incorporate a balance of skills, processes, and concepts, leading to understanding, retention, and the ability to apply learning

 

 

 

How can we tell         Currently Connecticut students are not performing as well as they could or

if we currently                       should be.  A look at the evidence supports this view.

have world

class standards?        Our existing state mathematics standards enable many students to achieve just slightly above the national average for students in most other states. When we compare Connecticut students scoring at or above proficient on NAEP with those deemed proficient on state tests such as CMT and CAPTS, a much lower proficiency standard is revealed. (Achieve, American Diploma Project)  Furthermore, the overall performance of state students as a whole disguises the fact that some groups of Connecticut students perform well below the rest, on many measures. Students of color and low-income students take fewer high school mathematics courses; perform less well on assessments, complete high school at lower rates, and complete college at lower rates (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2007).

                                 

                                  Out of 30 industrialized countries participating in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2006, the U.S. ranked 25th in math and 21st in science achievement.  The performance gap between the United States and top-performing nations is vast:  American students lag about a full year behind peers in the countries that perform best in mathematics.  Even our “best and brightest” cannot compete with excellent students elsewhere.  According to the OECD, “the United States does not just have more students performing badly—it also has many fewer students performing well.”  Our best math students performed worse than the best math students in 22 other OECD nations.

 

                                  When the performance of American students is compared with more developed nations considered our economic competitors, the U.S. performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is similar to our performance on PISA- disappointing.  In an analysis by the American Institutes for Research of a group of industrialized nations participating in both TIMSS and PISA, U.S. students consistently performed below average across international assessments. 


“U.S. performance is below the 12-country average at both low- and high-skill levels and low and high-levels of item difficulty.”

 

To summarize where Connecticut is now:

 

       NAEP – slightly above the national average*see "information and links", 2008 NAEP graph

       ACT – slightly above the national average

       SAT – slightly above the national average

       Achievement data masks large gaps between segments of student population

       Lower performing students are in segments of the Connecticut population that are growing fastest

       These same students – students of color and low income students –complete high school at lower rates than other students, and complete college at very low rates

 

American education has not adequately responded to these new challenges.  The United States is falling behind other countries in a resource that matters most in the new global economy:  human capital.  By 2012, 85% of Connecticut’s fastest growing jobs will require some college or training beyond high school, including a projected 25,000 jobs in the health care field.  Such statistics point to a future shortage of the types of workers needed for a strong Connecticut economy, one in which our competition is not workers in Massachusetts or New York, but workers in Singapore or Korea.

 

                                               

Why do we                              World class standards are necessary for preparing Connecticut

need world                              students for the 21st Century workplace and citizenship.  Student

class standards                        data from the U.S. Department of Education repeatedly

in                                             indicates that the single strongest predictor of completion of a

mathematics?                          bachelor’s degree is the highest level of mathematics completed in high school. Completing a course beyond advanced algebra, such as pre-calculus or statistics, more than doubles the chance that a student entering college will complete a degree (Adelman, 1999).  Furthermore, the number of college and university mathematics courses taken is the single greatest predictor of lifetime earning potential, cutting across gender and other demographic groups (Adelman, 1994).

 

Through the efforts of the Connecticut Department of Education, Connecticut is ratcheting up the expectations for course-taking in mathematics, particularly for higher levels of mathematics in high school. However, just taking courses, and even passing them, does not necessarily insure understanding. Consider the following.  Results for the 2008 ACT college admission test show that many Connecticut high school seniors are “appallingly” unprepared for college-level work. Thus the further challenge is to prepare the system of K-12 education to offer all students not just the challenge, but also the support needed to accomplish the new requirements, and to meet the goals of the standards with understanding.

 

 


 

What                                        Every student, by no later than eighth grade, should be prepared to  mathematics is                      succeed in an authentic algebra course as identified in the
included in                              National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s March 13, 2008, report.
world class                              Robert Moses, former civil rights worker and Director of The
standards?                               Algebra Project, declares that algebra is the new civil right, stating, “I

believe that the absence of math literacy in urban and rural communities throughout this country is an issue as urgent as the lack of registered Black voters in Mississippi was in 1961” (Moses, 2001).

 

Algebra is critically important since it is the gateway to the areas of mathematics most needed for understanding our quantitative world. With a solid foundation in algebra, students can—and should—study topics such as geometry (the mathematics of shape), statistics (the mathematics of data), discrete mathematics (the mathematics of computers), and operations research (the mathematics of business and industry).

 

But mathematical education is not only about topics, it also is about reasoning. The mathematics needed for a technological workplace usually involves using a broad set of mathematical tools, in messy and often ill-defined applications. This requires strong reasoning ability, as well as problem solving and critical thinking skills.

 

The challenge is immense. We are adding to, not subtracting from, the list of skills our students and teachers must have. Algebra is important, not as an end, but as a means. Our students must be ready to use mathematics in their careers. To do so, they must have both the foundational skills and the desire and ability to apply mathematics to the questions around them.

 

What kind of                            In addition to making changes in standards and course-taking
teaching is                               expectations for all students, teachers must teach effective
necessary for                           mathematics from the earliest grades. At present instruction is
students to                               sometimes characterized by endless repetition through spiraling, which
meet world                              is often no more effective the sixth time than it was the first.
class                                       

standards?                               All students deserve high quality instruction. Elementary teachers are giving students the foundation to be ready for middle school algebra and challenging high school courses. It may be time to reconsider our expectations that elementary teachers be generalists and teach multiple subjects, leaving little time for preparing to teach new ideas in mathematics or other areas. Several presidents of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics have called for serious consideration of having elementary and middle grade teachers specialize in teaching mathematics (NCTM, 2006, 2003). Intermediate and middle grade teachers who show interest and ability in teaching mathematics might focus on teaching mathematics to multiple classes, either at one grade, or over several grades or serve as coaches to teachers.

 

Nationally, most elementary teachers have minimal preparation in mathematics at the college/university level; in fact, nationally only 7% of elementary teachers majored or minored in mathematics education (NCTM, 2000). Requirements for licensure are usually one or two courses in mathematics. In addition, since we expect most elementary teachers to teach classes in many subjects each day, they do not have sufficient time to prepare for the demands required to give all students the necessary foundation for algebra in eighth grade. Models that allow specialization, where fewer teachers are responsible for multiple classes in mathematics, show promise. In addition they are pragmatic in focusing professional development dollars on a smaller number of teachers rather than attempting to train all elementary teachers in all academic subjects over multiple years.   

 

Connecticut elementary teacher education programs and licensure tests should cover the topics in the Critical Foundations of Algebra; and for middle school teachers, the Critical Foundations of Algebra and all of the Major Topics of School Algebra as identified in the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s March 13th, 2008 report.

 

What does a                            The primary component for a system of effective learning is a
world class                              guaranteed and viable curriculum. This means having a K-12
system look                              course of study that gives all students the opportunity to learn
like?                                        mathematics that prepares them for college and career with a focused                                                       number of cohesive and effectively taught topics each year.          

 

Such a system requires all its parts to be in alignment. This means that the standards be supported by instructional practices that enable all students to achieve the standards. This in turn requires that all teachers understand and be prepared to deliver such instruction. It also requires that all instructional materials, including textbooks, support and align with the standards. In a world class system, assessment must also be aligned with the standards, not only in terms of topics, but by having a balance of

skills, concepts, and applications, demanding that students demonstrate reasoning, problem solving, and critical thinking. Assessments must be objective measures that are internationally benchmarked.  Finally, teachers at all levels in a world class system must participate in ongoing reflection and renewal in order to prepare them to support powerful learning for all students.

Conclusion

With all these components in place – standards that are focused, coherent, with a small number of attainable topics at each grade, teachers who are well prepared and effective in their instructional practices, and an entire system of standards, textbooks, tests, teacher preparation, and ongoing professional development that is aligned – Connecticut will produce students who have embarked on a path to rise to world class status and achievement and graduates who will be ready to compete in a global economy.

 

Many questions remain.  Among them:

 

·         Will Connecticut’s mathematics standards contain the focus and content needed to produce world class achievement in mathematics?

·         Since standards alone are not enough, will ongoing professional development that helps instruction deepen and guarantee that all students achieve the standards be provided for all teachers?

·         If algebra is a means and not an end to world class achievement, will we provide students with a K-12 and beyond education in mathematics that imposes greater rigor and preparation for career and college?


The challenge ahead is certainly one that Connecticut can meet, with the collaboration of state education agencies, PreK-20 educational systems, parents and other stakeholders.  The Connecticut Coalition4 World Class Math stands ready to help meet this challenge.

 

 

 

References

Abraham, A., & Creech, J. (2002). Reducing remedial education: What progress are states making? Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Education Board.

 

Adelman, C. (1991). Answers in the toolbox:  Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor’s Degree Attainment.  Washington, D.C.:  U.S. Department of Education.

 

Adelman, C.  (1994).  Lessons of a Generation.  San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.  Minnesota Office of Higher Education, 2006.  “ACT Scores.”

 

Adelman, C. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Alliance for Excellent Education. (August 2006).  Paying Double:  Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation.

Achieve, Inc., American Diploma Project Network.  (October 2008).  Achieve ADP Algebra I End-of-Course Exam Content Standards with Comments & Examples.

Achieve, Inc., American Diploma Project Network.  (January 2008).  Achieve Data Profile:  Connecticut.

Achieve, Inc., American Diploma Project Network.  (May 2008).  High School Traditional Plus Model Course Sequence.  Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II.

Achieve, Inc., American Diploma Project Network. (March 2008). Connecticut Data Fact Sheet.

Education Commission of the States. (2009). An International Benchmarking Blueprint.

California Department of Education.  (June 2008).  Mathematics Content Standards.


Connecticut Academy of Education.  (May 30, 2008). The CT Algebra I Model Curriculum Proposal. Response to the State Board of Education and Commissioner's Secondary School Reform Initiative.

Connecticut Department of Education.  (September 2005).  2005 Connectciut Mathematics Curriculum Famework:  A Guide for the Development of PreK-12 Mathematics Understanding.

Connecticut Department of Education.  (2008). Connecticut’s Plan for Secondary School Reform brochure.

 

Connecticut Department of Education. (2008) The Connecticut Plan:  Academic  and Personal Success for Every Middle and High School Student.

 

 

 

Connecticut Department of Education.  (September 2005).  2005 Connecticut Mathematics Curriculum Framework:  Grades PreK through 12 Matrix.

Loveless, T. (September 2008). The Misplaced Math Student. The Brookings Institution.

Massachusetts Department of Education.  (November 2000).  Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Framework.

McKinsey & Company, Social Sector Office. (April 2009). The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools.

Moses, Robert P. and Charles E. Cobb, Jr., 2001.  Radical Equations:  Math Literacy and Civil Rights.  Boston, Beacon Press.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), 2006.  Curriculum Focal Points.  Reston, VA, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.  http://www.nctm.org

 

______________.  “We Need Elementary School Mathematics Specialists NOW”, News Bulletin, November 2006.  http://www.nctm.org.

 

______________.  “The Time Has Come for Pre-K-5 Mathematics Specialists,” News Bulletin, July/August 2003.  http://www.nctm.org.

 

______________.  “Preparing to Teach Young Children,”  News Bulletin, October 2000.  http://nctm.org.

 

National Research Council, 2001.  Adding It Up:  Helping Children Learn Mathematics.  J. Kilpatrick, J. Swafford, and B. Findell (Eds).  Washing, D.C., National Academy Press.

National Governors Association. (2008). Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education. NGA, CCSSO, and Acheive.

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel. (2008). Final Report.

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel. (2008) Report of the Task Groups and Subcommittees.

 

Zau, A. and J. Betts.  (2003).  Determinants of Student Achievement:  New Evidence from San Diego.  Public Policy Institute of California.

 

             

 

 

 

 

 



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