NJ adopts Common Core Standards

From an email I received from The NJ Coalition for World-Class Math:

Dear Group:

 

Well, it's over.

 

Yesterday, the NJ State Board of Education adopted the Common Core Standards in Math and English-Language Arts yesterday.  They never offered the public a chance to provide testimony on the final standards prior to adoption.

More info here:

NJ adopts new federal standards for math, language arts | dailyrecord.com | Daily Record

 

Critics: NJ rushing to adopt new math, language arts standards | dailyrecord.com | Daily Record

Where Have All The Portfolios Gone

Now that my son is finishing 8th grade and heading to high school, I'm still waiting to get back all of his work hidden away in portfolios. They are educational black holes. Is some student work (good and bad) kept as examples without telling students? Do some teachers use the work in reports or their own class work without telling the kids? I know it won't do us much good now, but it would be nice to get the work back. I wrote to our school long ago about how hiding work in portfolios does not help parents and kids, but I never heard a word back.

gone fishing

Well, not fishing, exactly.

I'll be attending the Middle School Mathematics Institute in Minneapolis!