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T he Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), the product of a major, multiyear state-led initiative coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), present an extraordinary opportunity for districts across the country to move to higher levels of achievement for all students. These rigorous standards will require that districts reexamine what it means for all students to understand and to do mathematics in ways that prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world.

NCTM has committed itself to equity, with many of us working toward a new generation of mathematics-savvy citizens and STEM professionals representing our diverse population. We need to take stock of the record and take action from the state house to the classroom, so that our vision becomes reality and our hopes for our students are realized. Philip "Uri" Treisman is professor of mathematics and of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he directs the Charles A. Dana Center. He is a senior adviser to the Aspen Institute's Urban Superintendents' Network and recently served on the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1992 for his work on nurturing minority student achievement in college mathematics and 2006 Scientist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation of Harvard University for his outstanding contributions to mathematics. In all his work, Treisman advocates for equity and excellence in education for all children. Philip Uri Treisman Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas at Austin

MultiEducator (http://www.multieducator.net/) has introduced JFK for Kids 1.0 for iOS or Mac OS X. It's a multimedia biography of President John F. Kennedy 51 years after his taking office. JFK for Kids is designed especially for kids in grades 3-5.

n Chapter 2 of the book Creating & Recognizing Quality Rubrics, we describe a "rubric for rubrics" designed to assist educators to be thoughtful consumers and developers of rubrics for instructional use in the classroom. The various quality levels described by the Rubric for Rubrics are illustrated with many sample classroom rubrics. All classroom rubrics discussed in the book have been evaluated using the Rubric for Rubrics; these evaluations are included on a CD that accompanies the book.

"The most important feature is that each line begins with a different color than the line above or below. As Matthew Schneps, director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, explained it to me, the color gradients also pull our eyes long from one character to the next-and then from the end of one line to the beginning of the next, minimizing any chance of skipping lines or making anything less than an optimally efficient word-to-word or line-to-line transition."

Core Math Tools is a downloadable suite of interactive software tools for algebra and functions, geometry and trigonometry, and statistics and probability. The tools are appropriate for use with any high school mathematics curriculum and compatible with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in terms of content and mathematical practices. Java required.

Junior high is a weird, often heartbreaking time for young women-and it might be just as weird and heartbreaking for their teachers.

I love TED talks and I always look forward for their new releases. You can learn as deep and profound insights from these talks as when reading a non-fiction book. I know we all have our time constraints that would not allow us to sit in front of an iPad or computer for 20 minutes watching a talk but there is always snatches of time to do it particularly in the weekends. Create a list of what to watch , as I do, and bookmark the talks that interest you and watch them later when you have time.

It hasn't been an easy go for teachers lately. In major cities like Chicago and Philadelphia, thousands of teachers were laid off this past summer. Meanwhile, the state of North Carolina recently ended teacher tenure and eliminated extra pay for teachers with masters degrees.

My teacher helped me for my field trip.thank you for remembering my teacher

Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) is an independent, non-partisan research center based at Stanford University, the University of California - Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. PACE seeks to define and sustain a long-term strategy for comprehensive policy reform and continuous improvement in performance at all levels of California's education system, from early childhood to post-secondary education and training. PACE bridges the gap between research and policy, working with scholars from California's leading universities and with state and local policymakers to increase the impact of academic research on educational policy in California.

"Pros & Cons of Using Blog Posts for School Announcements"

"Earlier this fall Google renamed Maps Engine Lite to My Maps. My Maps is Google's service for creating custom maps. Today, My Maps was integrated into Google Drive. Now in you can create a custom map from your Google Drive account. To do this just open the "new" menu in your Google Drive account and select "My Maps." See the screenshot below for directions. Below the screenshot you will find three video tutorials on using My Maps to create custom maps."

Edited highlights of a talk by John Hattie where he outlines some of the most successful methods to promote learning. To join a network of teachers who aim to put evidence into practice, visit www.ebtn.org.uk For training sessions by Mike Bell in the UK on evidence-based classroom methods visit www.educationevidence.com or contact mikebell@educationevidence.com For training in John Hattie's 'Visible Learning Plus': In the UK: Osiris Educational www.osiriseducational.co.uk In the USA: Lead and Learn www.leadandlearn.com In Scandinavia: JN Partnership www.challenginglearning.com In Australia: Macmillan Professional Learning www.macmillanprofessionallearning.com.au

When incorporated into classroom practice, the formative assessment process provides information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are still happening. The process serves as practice for the student and a check for understanding during the learning process. The formative assessment process guides teachers in making decisions about future instruction. Here are a few examples that may be used in the classroom during the formative assessment process to collect evidence of student learning.

In the just-released Math Publisher's Criteria document on the Common Core Standards, the authors say this about (bad) curricular decision-making: "'Fragmenting the Standards into individual standards, or individual bits of standards … produces a sum of parts that is decidedly less than the whole' (Appendix from the K-8 Publishers' Criteria). Breaking down standards poses a threat to the focus and coherence of the Standards. It is sometimes helpful or necessary to isolate a part of a compound standard for instruction or assessment, but not always, and not at the expense of the Standards as a whole.