NCES Finds States Lowered "Proficiency" Bar

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

NCES Finds States Lowered 'Proficiency' Bar
By Debra ViaderoUnder the federal No Child Left Behind Act, adopted nearly eight years ago, states are required to show that all students have attained proficient levels of performance in reading and mathematics by the end of the 2013-14 school year, and most states are far from reaching that goal. Please, click here to read the article.
Posted by DCMathTeacher at 8:18 PM

Why Good Teaching Matters

By Kathie Marshall

As we move on in our quest to improve teacher performance by adopting national standards and national assessments, I urge us all to promote a broader view of what it means to be an effective teacher. With enough informed will, we can find a means to identify, assess, and reward all the qualities a great teacher must possess. That would be a fitting tribute to the influence of Polly McDowell and other exceptional teachers like her. Please, click here to read the full article.

New Tack on Math Promoted: Problem-Solving is Focus of High School Guide

By Sean Cavanagh

Reasoning and sense-making are at the heart of mathematics from early childhood through adulthood,” NCTM President Henry S. Kepner Jr. says in an introduction to the document. Cultivating those skills, he writes, “will prepare students for higher learning, the workplace, and productive citizenship.” Click here to read the full article.

Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller Recognizes the Importance of Parents at Maryland School

On September 22, Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller visited Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md., to recognize and celebrate the importance of parental involvement in education. Miller joined representatives from the Montgomery County Public Schools for a tour of classrooms and spoke to more than 300 local parents and children who gathered for the school’s first "Family Learning Night" of the academic year. Please, click here to read the article.
This "Family Learning Night" is similar to the parents' Math workshops that I conduct every year for our students' parents. The parents' Math workshops help parents to experience how their student learn in the school. They also refresh their Math concepts and skills to enable them to assist their child with their homework assignment.
Last year, I conducted a series of Math workshops for parents, together with their child. I received very appreciative comments from the participants. They recommend that more Math parents' workshops be conducted to help students achieve more academic success.

Panel Wants Engineering Integrated into Curriculum

by Sean Cabanagh

Engineering studies, or lessons on how products are designed and built, have the potential to bolster student engagement and understanding in math and science, despite the topic’s relatively modest and undefined presence in the nation’s schools. Please, click here to read the article.

1st Advisory: Progress Report

Students have been in the school for a month now. They have proven and shown progress in their studies. They have done warm-up exercise everyday, practice exercises, daily quiz, class participation, group collaboration and reporting, and two short cycle assessments. Students will receive their progress report card on October 1, 2009, the same date with "Back-to-School-Night". They will know how they progress and will do something to improve more.

To all my students and other students, I have updated your students' corner on this weblog. Please, take the opportunity to enhance your math concepts and skills by using all the resources that I prepared for you here specially the Classzone and the Jefferson Lab. Remember, we aim for advanced rating!

To all our parents, I know, as a parent of three DCPS students, that my weblog is what you need to assist your child at home. You will benefit from the Parents' Corner in this site. I will do my best to update it with whatever lesson number that we are working on.
Please, do not hesitate to send me an email at elsa.domingo@dc.gov.

NOT JUST ANY PRIME

Mersenne primes are a special
class of prime, and they have a particular formula.

2^n - 1
The number n is a prime, and the result is prime. And what makes the Mersenne primes so interesting is how rare they are. And their gargantuan size.

Ancient Greek mathematicians were the first to describe Mersenne primes, and, up until now, only 46 had been discovered. This most recent one — though not the largest — is a whopper at nearly 13 million digits long. Please, click here to read the whole article.