We know the struggle with mathematics—for both teachers and students—all too well. Students’ math scores, as per the “Nation’s Report Card,” have plunged to record lows. Misconceptions in early grades ...

When I was a new teacher, I wanted my students to see math not just as numbers and equations but as a tool to understand the world around them. My goal wasn’t for them to simply memorize formulas to ...

Fierce wars continue to rage around math instruction, but there are many practical changes we should make for mathematics students upon which most of us can probably agree, that could transform their ...

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 ...

A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds that only one in eight elementary teacher preparation programs nationwide devote enough time to teaching fundamental math content ...

About seven years ago, some friends who had high school-age children urged me to attend a meeting to discuss our district’s math curriculum, called College Preparatory Math (CPM). Until then I hadn’t ...

Far too many students enter math class expecting to fail. For them, math isn’t just a subject–it’s a source of anxiety that chips away at their confidence and makes them question their abilities. A ...

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 ...

In its “State of the States” report on math instruction published last week, the National Council on Teacher Quality sharply criticized California and many of its teacher certification programs for ...