The new Alabama mathematics course of study  is coming up for vote tomorrow with the board of education. Here is a link to the board of education members email addresses. Much thanks to the writing team that has been composed of a large number of mathematics educators throughout the state. The writing team spent a great deal of time working to improve the current AL standards. EACTM appreciates the writing teams dedication to mathematics education!

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Here is an opportunity for next for next semester’s curriculum you may be interested in. I received this letter from Tim Jacobbe.

Dr. Hollylynne Lee, at NC State University, is a co-PI on the Diagnostic Inventories for Cognition in Education (DICE) project, funded by the Institute for Educational Sciences. They are developing an assessment of probabilistic reasoning and analyzing the results using a new psychometric method that is not currently used in practice. The method gives an overall measure of reasoning ability and also classifies students according to which misconceptions they have based on which incorrect options they select. It will be the first of its kind and will be freely available at the end of the 4-year project.

To investigate the quality and effectiveness of the questions on the assessment, they need input and feedback from teachers and students. They are currently looking for grade 6-9 math teachers and their students to participate in the study by administering assessments online. The assessment aims to diagnose specific misconceptions about probability that are common for students to have. Her team needs some teachers to give either 1 or 2 assessments to their students and then complete a 10-15 minute survey about their experiences giving the assessment and how they used the feedback from the assessment in their classroom. Teachers will be given gift cards for completing the survey: a $75 gift card for completing the survey after giving 1 assessment to their students and $125 after giving 2 assessments to their students.

Attached is a one-page flyer that gives more details about the study and participating. You can also find these details on the project webpage: https://coe.uga.edu/research/labs/dice

If you are willing to give 1 or 2 of the assessments to your students and complete a survey after they take the assessment(s), please enroll in the study here:  https://forms.gle/Hdr8FzZXADGaLkho6 

After you complete the enrollment form, the project team will get in touch with you about further details and directions!