Debates over how to teach math echo the conflicts over reading instruction, and some issues are similar. But unlike math, reading—in its full sense—draws on everything a person has been able to learn.

When Mike Kenny was a fifth-grade teacher in Essex Junction, he learned early in his career that the traditional way to teach math, which includes repetitive practice of math problems, did not work ...

Few elementary education programs give future teachers enough exposure to foundational math concepts, like number sense and algebraic reasoning, before they reach the classroom. That’s the upshot of a ...

To learn math, students must build a mental toolbox of facts and procedures needed for different problems. But students who can recall these foundational facts in isolation often struggle to use them ...

In the latest version of the Nation’s Report Card, students’ math scores fell an average of five points for fourth graders and eight points for eighth graders nationwide. This historic drop in scores ...

For much of her teaching career, Carrie Stark relied on math games to engage her students, assuming they would pick up concepts like multiplication by seeing them in action. The kids had fun, but the ...

The New York State Education Department is pushing new math guidelines, including a recommendation that teachers stop giving timed quizzes — because it stresses students out. The new guidelines also ...

Math scores in the U.S. have been so bad for so long that teachers could be forgiven for trying anything to improve them. Unfortunately, many of the strategies they’re using could be making things ...

The Hechinger Report covers one topic: education. Sign up for our newsletters to have stories delivered to your inbox. Consider becoming a member to support our nonprofit journalism. Sarah Powell, an ...

Inside her fifth-grade classroom at Brandon Elementary School, teacher Jill Carlson sees her students slumped in their chairs ...