State math assessments align with 2009 NAEP

Five new reports from REL Southwest examine the alignment of mathematics assessement standards in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Okalahoma, and New Mexico with the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics framework. These reports look at the extent to which current state assessments standards cover the content on which the 2009 NAEP assessments will be based.

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Texas and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=120

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Arkansas and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=119

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Louisiana and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=118

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Oklahoma and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=117

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: New Mexico and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=116

2007 College Student Health Survey

All those things your mother told you were true--watching too much TV, spending too much time on the computer, drinking, etc. will hurt your grades--and here's the evidence. Nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 14 Minnesota colleges were surveyed. Surprises had to do with the negative relationship of smoking to GPA. Stress is the most commonly reported problem, but doesn't necessarily effect grades. Pertinent perhaps to our local students is the linear negative relationship between gambling and GPA. You can find the full report here.

Social Justice is political --support William Ayers

An article in today's (Tuesday, Oct. 14) Inside Higher Ed again brought to my attention the efforts by one presidential campaign to defame a person who has for decades sought to foster social justice. This is admittedly a political action to encourage you to visit the web site soliciting endorsements for Dr. Ayers--but then I do believe that advocating for social justice is always political.

Scrapbooks for teaching and learning

Thanks to my former OSU colleagues who created Infodoodads, I'm posting on a somwhat lighter topic than usual. Apparently those clever K-12 teachers have discovered the power of scrapbooking (digitally or literally) to personalize curriculum and make it meaningful. Read the this little article from Edutopia that was linked from Infodoodads. Seems like this could have some real potential for counseling work as well.