In the New Jersey News

Here is an article that is extremely well done.

Again it is a real applied math person that is featured in this article about driving math change and not a Central Administration Math Educator.

"As a taxpayer, a citizen and a parent, I am appalled," said Clark, who testified at a state hearing on the draft standards last month. Clark, who has a master's degree in chemical engineering, said New Jersey, which has the second highest per-pupil spending in the country, deserves better than Indiana's "hand-me-downs."

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090322/COMMUNITIES/903220339&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Hopefully Seattle can heed her words:
"It is important to get this right," Davy said. "To change in mid-stream is a small price to pay."

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Think back to May 2007 and the EDM adoptions in Seattle, Bethel, & Issaquah with this:
The working draft will change, Davy said, so local school districts were told not to update their math curriculum in the meantime.
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More words for Seattle:
"Kids with a weak foundation will never be able to do the math the 21st century will demand of them," Davy said.
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New Jersey mirrors Seattle:
They say the state's standards have failed to prepare students for math. They cite statistics that 40 percent of students take remedial courses in their first year at the state's public universities and 80 percent do so at the state's community colleges.
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Contrast the following with EDM practice in Seattle:
The draft calls for elementary school students to do basic arithmetic without the use of a calculator.
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A question that should arise from this article is what exactly does the NAEP math test measure? given that:

Caldwell and her backers point to New Jersey fourth- and eighth-grade students performing better in math than Indiana's on the so-called nation's report card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. New Jersey's fourth-graders have the second highest NAEP scores, and eighth-graders the sixth highest. Indiana places sixth and 18th, respectively.

While NJ statistics show that 40 percent of students take remedial courses in their first year at the state's public universities and 80 percent do so at the state's community colleges.

So NJ is highly NAEP ranked in a math pathetic nation. In the PISA test the USA was the worst English speaking nation tested.
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It should also be noted that the use of NAEP for state to state comparisons is strongly discouraged because of demographic differences in state populations. If those cited in the article as bringing up this NAEP New Jersey - Indiana comparison are experts .... it must be easy to be an expert in New Jersey.