The Math Problem 

Sluggish growth in math scores for U.S. students began long before the pandemic, but the problem has snowballed into an education crisis. This back-to-school-season, the Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms, will be documenting the enormous challenge facing our schools and highlighting examples of progress. The three-year-old Reporting Collaborative includes AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, and The Seattle Times.

AI might disrupt math and computer science classes – in a good way

For as long as Jake Price has been a teacher, Wolfram Alpha — a website that solves algebraic problems online — has threatened to make algebra homework obsolete.  Teachers learned to work around and with it, said Price, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, Washington. But…

Racial gaps in math have grown. Could detracking help?

A South Carolina high school tries to help all students improve in math

Disabilities in math affect many students — but get little attention

Dyscalculia and similar disorders are largely ignored in schools and in policy

Dollars and sense: Can financial literacy help students learn math? 

An increasing number of U.S. states are mandating financial literacy education for high school graduates 

How Texas plans to make access to advanced math more equitable 

Students with high test scores in fifth grade opt-out of middle school honors, rather than opting-in

Why it matters that Americans are comparatively bad at math

Employers, experts raise new alarms about competitiveness and national security

‘Data days’ and longer math classes: How one district is improving math scores

Alabama’s Piedmont City schools extended math classes, added more small group instruction and started to routinely examine student math performance. The strategy is paying off    

How can you help your kids get better at math?

For young children, board games, counting toys and helping with cooking can improve math skills

The ‘science of reading’ swept reforms into classrooms nationwide. What about math?

Supporters say teaching practices supported by quantitative research could help students, but they are still coming into focus

Teachers conquering their math anxiety

Early childhood educators can build a strong math foundation for students when they build their own confidence

College students are still struggling with basic math. Professors blame the pandemic 

Colleges say there’s no quick fix. Many are trying to identify gaps sooner, adopting placement tests that delve deeper into math skills, while some are adding summer camps

How can schools dig out from a generation’s worth of lost math progress?

Students aren’t bouncing back from the pandemic as quickly as educators hoped, intensifying worries about how they will fare as they enter high school and college-level math courses