PA Coalition for World Class Math

[Steve Piazza]

Here is the website for a new group devoted to improving the
Pennsylvania state math standards, which are among the worst in the
country, according to the Fordham Institute, the American Federation
of Teachers, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

http://paworldclassmath.webs.com/

The mission statement of this group reads:

The mission of the PA Coalition for World-Class Math is to promote a
world-class education for all students.

Our immediate goal is ensuring that improvements are made to the
mathematics content standards specifying what Pennsylvania students
must know and be able to do in mathematics. Whether these standards
are created under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a
consortium of states, or another entity, the quality must be
improved.

We expect all appropriate stakeholders' groups and academic experts to
be included in the process. It is essential that research
mathematicians and university math professors, in addition to the
usual K-12 educators and professors of math education, be involved in
writing high-quality mathematics content standards.

Our coalition is not endorsing national curriculum standards. Our
interest is in the standards themselves: ensuring that all appropriate
stakeholders groups and academic experts are included in the standards-
writing process, that the standards are internationally benchmarked,
and that the quality is at least as high as that of the "A" states'
standards.