{"id":311,"date":"2013-08-29T10:01:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T15:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/?p=311"},"modified":"2013-09-04T17:43:06","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T22:43:06","slug":"rankings-standards-and-inquiry-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/2013\/08\/29\/rankings-standards-and-inquiry-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Rankings, Standards, and Inquiry, Oh my!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ranking<\/strong><\/p>\n

As concern for K-12 standards in public education has come to a head,\u00a0 the quality of teaching and learning in our public universities has also come under public scrutiny.\u00a0 Recently, President Obama announced that he wanted to rework the models used to rank universities and tie public funding to those rankings.\u00a0 Blogger Cathy O\u2019Neil at mathbabe<\/a> has some great responses to this idea and points out that there would be many ways to game the system.\u00a0 As we balk at being judged in bulk by a few isolated measurements, we find ourselves having something in common with K-12 teachers and schools whose positions and funding often hinge on test results.\u00a0 Tying money to educational results is always a tricky business.\u00a0 So it might be prudent for us to examine this history of reform in K-12 education.<\/p>\n

Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media coverage of the Common Core Standards<\/a> can make it seem like they emerged from a vacuum. \u00a0I was excited to see graduate student Raymond Johnson\u2019s six part series<\/a> giving a brief history of how the National Council of Mathematics Teachers (NCTM) became involved in policy-making, created the NCTM Standards document<\/a>, and paved the way for a set of national standards to be adopted. \u00a0While the NCTM standards emerged at the end of the Cold War era and followed the report \u201cA Nation At Risk\u201d, the NCTM did not use any public funds to write their standards (although Johnson points out that this may have been simply a consequence of there not being any funding available).\u00a0 Also, the NCTM\u2019s Standards are not grade specific and were used more as a set of guidelines for the states to write their own curricula.\u00a0 Johnson is a prolific blogger who spent over 6 years as a high school teacher before returning to school. It is worth noting that Johnson is a University of Northern Iowa alum as he highlights the contributions of professors from UNI several times.<\/p>\n

Inquiry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reading over the Common Core Standards, the most exciting part to a mathematician might be the eight Standards of Mathematical Practice<\/a>.\u00a0 These standards highlight some of the characteristics of a mathematician\u2019s mindset as a problem-solver.\u00a0 For instance, we don\u2019t give up!!\u00a0 We critique each our work and value rigor.\u00a0 We seek patterns and are precise in our use of language. So how does one teach students to adopt these mindsets?\u00a0 Recently there have been many blog posts by Inquiry-Based Learning practitioners aimed at answering these questions.\u00a0 At Math For Love, Dan Finkel gives his take on teaching perseverance<\/a>.\u00a0 At Math Ed Matters, Dana Ernst and Angie discuss creating a supportive classroom environment in which failure is not a roadblock and where criticism can be constructively given and received. \u00a0One of Ernst\u2019s June posts was aptly titled with his favorite student comment \u201cTry, Fail, Understand, Win\u201d<\/a>. \u00a0Lastly, at The Math Switch, a blog dedicated to chronicling his transition into using IBL techniques in his classroom, Matt Jones addresses the \u201cstart-up\u201d problem<\/a> of trying to engange students in problem-solving.<\/p>\n

Oh my!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

To me, there is an exciting opportunity for K-12 educators and mathematicians to have open discussions about their teaching practices and learn from and support one another.\u00a0 What’s your opinion?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Ranking As concern for K-12 standards in public education has come to a head,\u00a0 the quality of teaching and learning in our public universities has also come under public scrutiny.\u00a0 Recently, President Obama announced that he wanted to rework the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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