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It Takes a Mathematician to Criticize the Value-Added Model
Most mathematical models didn't get the 2016 election right. Why would we trust them to measure teacher performance? In his latest op-ed piece for the Huffington Post, mathematician John Ewing (president of Math for America, which runs the Master Teacher Fellowship that I have had since 2009) criticizes the use of the value-added model to measure teacher quality. The value-added model theoretically uses gains in standardized test scores to measure the amount of student knowledge added by a teacher.
Add a commentMy Article on Proposed Common Core Changes
Today, Math for America (MfA) published an article that I wrote on the proposed changes to the Common Core math standards in New York State. In this article, I argued that despite the modest scope of the proposed revisions, they create an opportunity for more substantial future changes in math education. Participating in the work of the state's Mathematics Standards Review Committee also made me realize that we need more chances for teachers like me to shape our educational system.
The complete article is online at http://mathforamerica.org/news/revising-common-core-math-should-be-just-beginning .
My One-Page Summary of Proposed Common Core Changes
I published a handy one-page summary of the recently proposed changes to the Common Core high school math standards in New York. This PDF file briefly summarizes what I consider to be the most important suggested changes. Many of the changes were relatively minor - small changes in grammar or breaking long standards into shorter bullet point-type standards. Other changes were more significant, such as removing the requirement that students divide polynomials using long division.
You can find the one-page summary on my other web site, Reach the Source (http://reachthesource.org), which contains resources related to Common Core high school math in New York State.
The state Education Department is allowing the public to comment on the proposed changes online until November 14 at http://nysed.gov/draft-standards-mathematics.
Add a commentQuoted in Chalkbeat Article on Proposed Common Core Changes
Today, Chalkbeat New York published an article (in which I was featured) on the proposed changes to the Common Core standards in New York State. I am a member of the Mathematics Standards Review Committee that met over the summer to review and revise the standards.
Add a commentProposed Changes to Common Core Math
This past spring, I was selected by the New York State Education Department to be one of about 100 people in the state to be part of the Mathematics Standards Review Committee, which devised several revisions to the controversial Common Core Standards. The results were recently released for public comment online. Here's a summary.
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