Mission Statement
The mission of the The New Jersey Coalition for World Class Math is to ensure a world class math education for all students. We want the NJ Department of Education to produce Math Core Curriculum Content Standards which are based upon the curriculum standards of the highest performing countries on international math tests and upon the highest ranking states' math standards in the United States.* Standards must be of the highest quality thus ensuring focus, coherence, clarity and rigor. We advocate for the involvement of research mathematicians and university math professors, in addition to the usual K-12 educators and professors of math education, in writing substantive math content standards that will prepare our children for success in college and life. This will ensure that all New Jersey students can compete in the global economy. We also want New Jersey teachers to have world class mathematics training and high standards for teacher certification in mathematics. Statement on national standards initiative. There has been a multi-state initiative currently underway since mid-April 2009, coordinated by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) called the “State Common Core Standards”, which is a state-led process to develop voluntary "common core" K-12 English and mathematics standards. In the likely event that New Jersey's Governor Corzine and Commissioner of Education Davy sign the commitment to participate in this initiative, the New Jersey Coalition for World Class Math strongly urges both the Governor and Commissioner to advocate, at the federal level, for the inclusion of college and university professors of mathematics, along with the professors of mathematics education, and K-12 educators, in the writing and review of the "State Common Core Standards" in K-12 math. Our Coalition is not "endorsing" national curriculum standards. We are advocating that all appropriate stakeholders groups and academic experts be part of the process. Too many states have ignored the voices of our nation's mathematicians in their standards writing process. Massachusetts, which performed as high as the the top international countrires on the TIMSS, utlized the expertise on mathematicians in writing their "Grade A" math standards. It is imperative that each state heed the the National Mathematics Advisory Panel's following recommendation: "Mathematicians should be included in greater numbers, along with mathematics educators, mathematics education researchers, curriculum specialists, classroom teachers, and the general public, in the standard-setting process and in the review and design of mathematical test items for state, NAEP, and commercial tests." Read Dr. Sandra Stotsky's letter to the editor of Time Magazine (4/30/09)http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1894973-2,00.html responding to Walter ISaacson's 4/15/09 article, How to Raise the Standard in America's Schools http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891468,00.html , One alarm bell Isaacson's article should have rung is why no one seems to expect the participation of the nation's mathematicians or their two professional societies in the construction of national mathematics standards for K-12. No other nation would dream of developing national mathematics standards without a sign-off by the country's mathematics community. Perhaps this exclusion of mathematicians is one reason children in the U.S. do not do as well on the international scene in mathematics as we would like them to. As a former official at the Massachusetts Department of Education, I will tell you that students' 2007 scores in international testing in that state showed that the involvement of mathematicians and scientists in the development of its nationally recognized mathematics and science standards and assessments made a difference. Sandra Stotsky, FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. As published in the Thomas B.Fordham Foundation's State of the State Math Standards, 2005, and the National Mathematics Advisory Panel's Final Report:Foundations for Success,2008.