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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 quarter of 4th graders and more than a third of 8th graders cannot meet basic math benchmarks, and researchers estimate on average, elementary and middle school students will need more than four months of additional instruction to catch up to pre-pandemic math performance. Teachers must support a wider range of student needs—and more severe math struggles—within each classroom.

Those interested in learning research-backed strategies to boost student math learning can sign up for an Education Week mini-course on the topic, a five-week email series.

Below are articles, reports, and videos from Education Week, along with state, national, and international education studies, for further reading on math instruction.

Understanding the problem

• Explaining That Steep Drop in Math Scores on NAEP: 5 Takeaways
• Teaching About Data Can Mean Leading Challenging Discussions
• Universities Are Teaching Competing Math Philosophies to Future Teachers. Why That Matters
• Dyscalculia and Dyslexia: 69´«Ã½ Disabilities Offer Insights for Math Support
• (Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology)
• (Developmental Review)

Progressing in fact and procedural fluency

• Finding Time for Math Across the Curriculum
• Graphs Are Hard for 69´«Ã½ to Digest. Can a ‘Slow Reveal’ Help?
• Young 69´«Ã½ Gravitate Toward Math. How Teachers Can Build on That Curiosity
• Why Does Fact Fluency Matter in Math? 4 Educators Offer Answers
• Kids Need to Know Their Math Facts. What 69´«Ã½ Can Do to Help
• (Institute of Education Sciences)
• (Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education)
  

Breaking down fractions

• Making Sense of Fractions: This Tactic Helped 69´«Ã½ Grasp a Key Math Topic
• Approach to Fractions Seen as Key Shift in Common Standards
• ‘Fraction Phobia': The Root of Math Anxiety?
• (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology)
• (IES)

Comprehending word problems

• Why Word Problems Are Such a Struggle for 69´«Ã½â€”And What Teachers Can Do
• Introduce Word Problems to 69´«Ã½ Sooner, Studies Say
• What’s the Problem With Word Problems? (Opinion)
• Addition and Subtraction Situations Chart (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction)
• (ZDM Mathmatics Education)

Countering math anxiety

• Math Anxiety Weakens How 69´«Ã½ Study. Here’s What Teachers Can Do
• The Myth Fueling Math Anxiety
• How to Ease 69´«Ã½â€™ Academic Anxieties When Learning Speeds Up
• (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology)
• (Educational Psychology Review)