ABOUT THE COALITIONBACKGROUNDIn recent years a number of reports, including the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics and Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, collectively referred to as the Standards, and Everybody Counts and Counting on You of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board and the Board on Mathematical Sciences, have contained specific recommendations for making substantial improvements in mathematics education.Although individual teachers and administrators in New Jersey have responded to the challenges of these reports, only a concerted and coordinated effort can lead to fundamental changes throughout the state. This is where the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition plays a critical role. By drawing all segments of the community together -- education, business, government, and the public -- the Coalition has served as a catalyst and coordinator of a truly statewide effort to improve mathematics education. The New Jersey Mathematics Coalition (like the other 50 such state Coalitions) was created to facilitate and encourage improvement in the teaching and learning of mathematics as recommended in the national reports. Although much planning took place earlier, the Coalition began with the first meeting of its Board of Governors in June 1991, at which the Goals were adopted. In 1994, the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition joined the National Alliance of State Science and Mathematics Coalitions, a newly-formed organization created to advance the common missions and goals of the state coalitions. New Jersey Mathematics Coalition Director Joseph G. Rosenstein serves on the Executive Committee of NASSMC.
GOVERNANCEThe New Jersey Mathematics Coalition is an autonomous organization which is responsible to an independent Board of Governors, chaired by Manya Ungar past president of the New Jersey and National Parent Teachers Association. Previous chairs have been Nancy S. Cole, Executive Vice-President of Educational Testing Service, James W. Fella, Vice-Chair of the Hoechst Celanese Science and Math Education Committee, and Norman Tenzer, a Management Consultant who, until his retirement, was Director of Technology Development at Hoechst Celanese.From the public policy and public sectors, the Board includes major figures from the legislature, New Jersey Department of Education, the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Parent Teacher Association, and the New Jersey Education Association. The operational arm of the Coalition is an Executive Committee. It generates proposals for the consideration of the Board concerning the goals, priorities, operational procedures, and expenditures of the Coalition, and carries out the policies that the Board establishes in these areas. The Board of Governors has members from the mathematical community (including members whose primarily affiliation is the corporate sector), from the educational (non-mathematical) sector, from the public policy sector, from the public sector, and from the corporate sector. A list of members of the Board of Governors follows.
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