As math gaps continue to widen in many grades, educators face an uphill battle to help students regain ground in the subject. Following historic math declines on the Nation’s Report Card in 2022, a ...

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 ...

As a mathematics education researcher, I study how math instruction impacts students' learning, from following standard math procedures to understanding mathematical concepts. Focusing on the latter, ...

Is 2/7 larger than 4/11? That’s the question the middle school class was struggling to answer. Fractions hadn’t really connected with the students, says John Barclay, a teacher in Richmond Public ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Linda Darling-Hammond is an expert on education research and policy. This blog was updated on June 24, 2026 to clarify a statistic ...

What mathematical knowledge do elementary teachers use in teaching? About 10 years ago, Deborah Ball and her colleagues at Michigan State University carried out a research project to address this ...

Two students in Danielle Adler’s kindergarten class at Marcus Hook Elementary School in Marcus Hook, Pa., prepare for an addition problem. Credit: Holly Korbey for The Hechinger Report The Hechinger ...

Margie Howells said that she turned to the science of math after wondering why there weren't as many resources for dyscalculia as there were for dyslexia. Credit: AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar The Hechinger ...

In education circles, early literacy — such as ensuring all children are reading by third grade — gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so. Early reading skills have been shown to have a profound ...

A Brief Overview Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability that affects a person’s ability to understand numbers and learn math concepts. Like dyslexia, which impacts reading skills, dyscalculia ...