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Nov. 12--More evidence that top-down, one-size-fits-all Common Core school standards lower the academic bar, especially in math, is provided by two educators who served on Common Core's Validation Committee but [...]

The nation's governors and state school chiefs released on Wednesday a new set of academic standards, their final recommendations for what students should master in English and math as they [...]

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study published on Nov. 20, 1996, reveals that English schoolchildren are among the world leaders in science but are lagging behind in mathematics. In tests covering six maths areas, 13-year-olds in English schools scored 53% compared with 79% for the top performers, Singapore. However just four countries beat English pupils' performance in science. Meanwhile the education authority responsible for the Ridings school in Halifax, England, has refused Education and Employment Secretary Gillian Shephard's demand for a prompt inspection of its services.

The formal proof has been fundamental to mathematics since the sixth century BC, but proofs such as that for the Four Colour Theorem or Fermat's Last Theorem require a more sociologically-based concept of proof. The absolute certainty provided by the rigid idea of proof formalised by logicians in the 19th century sets mathematical knowledge apart from other kinds of knowledge. However a new standard of 'beyond reasonable mathematical doubt' is needed for such proofs as the one for the Four Colour Theorem which involved an extensive computer calculation that cannot be checked by hand.