But when district leaders examined what these courses truly accomplished, they realized they held kids back, keeping them from higher-level math. 

So one by one, starting in 2014, this 15,000-student school system an hour southeast of Washington D.C., began eliminating lower-level math courses. The last one to go, intermediate algebra, was pulled in 2021. 

Calvert County school leaders have observed significant gains in math in the past two decades: nearly 100% of their students successfully completed the more challenging Algebra II in 2025 compared to just 67% in 2006.听

The advancement was even more pronounced among Black students: 99% did the same last year compared to 51% 20 years ago. Kids with disabilities also saw dramatic improvements as 94% completed the course in 2025 compared to 20% in 2006.  

Joe Sutton, Calvert County schools鈥� supervisor of secondary mathematics and the force behind the elimination of these lower-level classes, said the move was overdue. 

鈥淲e couldn’t find any evidence these courses were increasing students’ subsequent grades, their graduation rates or their state test passing scores,鈥� he said. 鈥淎fter two or three, we started to recognize this is a pattern: Erring on the side of caution ended up underpreparing our students 鈥� particularly those from historically underserved groups.鈥�

The decision meant more students were exposed to higher-level math. 

Ninety-nine percent of seniors completed courses in 2025 that were recognized by the University System of Maryland as rigorous for 12th graders, up from 40% in 2006. This included honors precalculus, advanced mathematics, and Advanced Placement Statistics, a college-level-course. Once again, gains were further pronounced among historically marginalized groups: A full 98% of Black students did the same compared to 22% in 2006. Ninety-four percent of students with disabilities achieved that outcome in 2025 compared to 0% 19 years earlier.

Though it wasn鈥檛 a direct replacement, statistics and advanced mathematics have largely taken the place of business math, Algebra III and academic precalculus, Sutton said. 

The elimination of remedial or intermediate courses meant students and their teachers had to reach a higher standard. Professional development helped educators meet the academic needs of every child, including those who might struggle mightily with the material, Sutton said. And the district invited kids to lunchtime and after-school tutoring as needed.

Just as important: Staff had to abandon the earlier practices that underestimated kids鈥� potential, he said, and stymied their ability. They had to take a close and critical look at access.

It wasn鈥檛 an easy shift. Sutton spent years battling teachers and counselors who thought he was taking the district in the wrong direction by doing away with the more basic courses.

鈥淚 had to spend some of my social capital in order to get to where we are because it did make things harder for teachers 鈥� especially upfront,鈥� Sutton said, knowing he would be adding more students to their classes who couldn’t instantly graph a line or solve a multi-step equation. 鈥淏ut just by virtue of being in that course, they’re going to grow more and we’re going to do more good for our community.鈥�

Sutton, who founded one of the courses he later removed, intermediate algebra, admitted he didn鈥檛 do the best job of selling his approach initially. 

鈥淚n the first few years, there was just concern, a lack of faith in what we were doing,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or a while, any time a high school teacher saw me walking in the hallway, the one thing they wanted to talk about is, 鈥榃e really shouldn’t have gotten rid of that course.鈥欌��

Andrew Brantlinger, associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy, and Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park, knew Sutton faced a tough challenge and commended him for sticking with it. 

鈥淭he call to eliminate these kinds of classes is not new,鈥� Brantlinger said, 鈥渂ut that a district leader would do it 鈥� I don’t know how often that really happens.鈥�

He said schools around the country have been de-tracking classes since the 鈥�80s, as working-class students were attending college at higher rates and needed access to more advanced mathematics than earlier generations had been given.

Brantlinger notes that the influential has been a major player in the movement to remove such courses, which he calls 鈥渓ow track鈥� or 鈥渢erminal.鈥� 

A 2024 of below grade-level 9th graders found those enrolled in mixed-level Algebra I classes 鈥� led by properly trained teachers 鈥� did substantially better on 11th-grade math tests compared to peers placed into a remedial course.

Such measures, researchers discovered, increased attendance plus the likelihood of the student staying in the district all four years 鈥� and completing college-ready math while there. Also, they note, there was no evidence of a negative effect on higher-performing kids in the mixed group.

On the local level, Sutton said, it meant a change in how Calvert County kids advanced through the subject from year to year.  

鈥淐ourse placement recommendations were based entirely on what students had accomplished in the past,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd now we’re at a point where course recommendations are based on what a student wants to accomplish in their future. It’s a really big paradigm shift, and it was really concerning for a lot of stakeholders.鈥�

Sutton said the school district counsels kids about their academic and professional goals each February. It鈥檚 at that point that they determine what type of courses they鈥檒l need to succeed. 

Algebra I is now the 鈥渓owest鈥� level class offered at the high school. And if kids need support, Sutton said, the district offers a semester- or year-long Algebra Lab course they can take concurrently with Algebra I to get extra practice.

Casie Reynolds, a math teacher who joined the school district in 2005, once taught a small intermediate algebra course composed mostly of Black students who were classified as special education and had an Individualized Education Program or had a learning difficulty that required some type of accommodation. It was not representative of the overall population and didn’t push kids to their fullest potential, Reynolds said. Students from those same groups were placed in Algebra II or some other, rigorous course, in the ensuing years. 

鈥淪tudents were never given the opportunity to achieve in more rigorous math classes because they couldn’t get there due to teachers’ and counselors’ mindsets and beliefs,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 view it as a self-fulfilling prophecy: believe they can or can’t, and they will or they won’t.  It’s hard to say they couldn’t do the math before because they were never invited to.鈥�

David Kung, executive director of , who lauded the change in Calvert County, said too many students are shunted into dead-end courses. 

鈥淒istricts 鈥� like many people 鈥� have bought into the myth that success in math is primarily about natural ability,鈥� Kung said. 鈥淚f that’s your belief and you see someone struggling (you think) they just don’t belong in that class.鈥�

Sutton said the switch has pulled kids off a predictable path of pre-algebra, Algebra 1A, Algebra 1B and geometry, the minimal level courses they needed to graduate. Now, that  student might take Algebra I, geometry, Algebra II and statistics. 

鈥淪o, they’re still not making it to calculus,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut that experience is so much more postsecondary preparation than what they had been doing when we had all these options to steer them around rigor, out of best intentions.鈥�

But before you crack open the champagne, you should know that only a small fraction of those students can do high school-level math. Those graduates may struggle if they try to go to college, qualify for military service or pursue other technical training. 

How big is this problem? And how does it vary across the country? In a recent project for , I set out to quantify the disparity between a state鈥檚 high school graduation and math proficiency rates. We dubbed this the .

Because states define high school math proficiency differently, the precise gaps are not perfectly comparable across states. But in many places, the disparities are shockingly large. In California, for example, 86% of high school students are graduating within four years, yet just 30% of 11^th graders pass the state math test. Florida reports a 90% graduation rate while 44% of students reached only level 3 out of 5 on end-of-course exams in algebra and geometry. The state warns that students performing at this level 鈥渕ay need additional support for the next grade/course.鈥�

These are not isolated examples. Across the country, the percentage of high schoolers who earn diplomas far exceeds the percentage who can demonstrate mastery in math, often by 30, 40 or even 50 percentage points.

We focused on math for a few reasons. One is that the gaps tend to be larger in math than they are in reading. For example, 51% of Minnesota鈥檚 10^th graders were proficient in reading, compared with 35% in math.

Two, as the collaborative鈥檚 director Jim Cowen in a recent Forbes piece, these types of gaps suggest that students are leaving high school unprepared for college coursework, workforce training or apprenticeships that require foundational math skills. At a macro level, lower math skills are likely to lead to lower earnings growth. 

Our analysis also found that states that use some externally validated exams, like the SAT or ACT, tended to have lower math proficiency rates than states that created their own tests. In Nevada, for instance, just 21% of students met ACT鈥檚 college-ready benchmark in math, and in New Hampshire, only 31% of 11^th graders met the SAT benchmark  in math.

In contrast, states with their own exams, like New Jersey (59%), Ohio (59%), Iowa (67%) and especially Texas (78%) and Virginia (81%), all reported much higher proficiency rates. Given that students in these states are not doing much better on nationally comparable exams among eighth graders, it鈥檚 likely that these reflect lower standards rather than any real superiority in math performance. 

The gaps were also larger for certain subgroups. For example, in Indiana, 25% of students overall met the SAT鈥檚 benchmark in math, but the rates were even lower for low-income students (12%), those with disabilities (5%) and English learners (3%).

What can be done about these problems? The answer can鈥檛 be to simply lower graduation rates until they match the proficiency levels, or to discard diplomas entirely, even if their signaling value has been degraded over time. For example, analyzed rising graduation rates through 2018 and concluded that the gains were likely the result of students actually learning academic or other social skills. Similarly, it would also be a mistake for states to lower the bar for math proficiency any further than they already have by getting rid of consequences for low performance or by reducing or grading standards.

A better place to start would be to pay more attention to children who struggle with math early in their schooling. If students have trouble with addition and multiplication, they鈥檙e likely going to have difficulty with fractions, too. And if they struggle with fractions, they鈥檙e likely to have problems in algebra.

Indeed, math proficiency as students advance up the grades. It鈥檚 not that they know less, but they fall further and further behind. That demands more urgency and attention to basic skills well before kids get to high school.  

But once students do reach the high school level, states need to strike a better balance in how they use their math exams. In 2002, more than half of all states to earn a diploma. But that led to a watering-down of standards and the creation of workaround pathways. All but six states have rolled those mandates back. 

An alternative model comes from states like Georgia, Virginia, and North and South Carolina, which administer end-of-course exams in algebra, English, science and social studies. The tests are directly aligned to content that students were taught over the course of the school year, and the results count for 10% to 20% of a student鈥檚 final course grade. Using tests in this way may be a better approach to making students care about how much they learn without preventing them from earning a diploma.

Most importantly, states need to be honest about what a high school diploma actually means. It should signal that a graduate is ready for what comes next 鈥� college, career training, military service or the workforce.

When states continue awarding diplomas while large shares of students remain far below grade level in math, that signal weakens. Families assume a high school diploma reflects readiness. Employers and colleges often do too. But the Graduation Gap data show that assumption is shaky.

In other words, state leaders need to strike a better balance between attainment measures like graduation rates and achievement measures like math scores. To do that, states need to pay more attention to gaps in foundational skills , measure learning more honestly and ensure that the diplomas students receive actually means what the public believes it means.

A new analysis from NWEA, an assessment company, suggests that these children are experiencing learning disruptions even now. 

While kindergarten achievement levels in math and reading largely held steady during and since the pandemic, by first and second grade, students are performing below pre-pandemic averages, according to an of NWEA鈥檚 Map Growth assessment data from spring 2017 to spring 2025. In math, at least, first and second graders have shown slow, incremental progress. Gaps in reading achievement, however, seem stubbornly stalled. 

The performance dips in first and second grade are similar to those seen in older grades, said Megan Kuhfeld, director of growth modeling and data analytics at NWEA, who co-led the research. 

鈥淭he general pattern of stagnation and lack of recovery in reading is very similar in first and second grade as grades three to eight,鈥� Kuhfeld said, adding that a slow recovery in math is also observed in the later grades. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very parallel across, basically, all the grades except for kindergarten.鈥�

So what鈥檚 happening to students as they matriculate from kindergarten to first grade to cause a performance drop?

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the big mystery of the results,鈥� Kuhfeld said.

She was willing to speculate about the cause, leaning on anecdotal evidence from kindergarten teachers and elementary school leaders. 

Chronic absenteeism rates in kindergarten, which are often higher than in any other grade before high school, may mean some students aren鈥檛 getting adequate instructional time, Kuhfeld offered, ultimately standing in the way of them grasping the foundational reading and math skills typically acquired in kindergarten.

And many kindergarten teachers have reported that students are showing up with more nascent social and emotional skills than their peers in prior years. They have less experience with important life skills such as sharing, cooperating and self-regulating. 

鈥淭eachers are spending more time having to teach how to behave in a kindergarten classroom 鈥� that would normally be the purview of preschool teachers,鈥� Kuhfeld said. 鈥淭his time spent on behavioral management and behavioral regulation, cumulatively, could be affecting achievement.鈥�

At Western Hills Primary School in Fort Worth, Texas, where students鈥� MAP Growth assessment results generally align with what NWEA has found nationally, principal Andrea Johnson said both factors could be at play. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing kids who, if they don鈥檛 reach immediate success, we see them dysregulate,鈥� said Johnson, whose school serves students in pre-K through first grade. 鈥淭hey struggle.鈥�

At Western Hills Primary School in Texas, kindergarten and first grade performance in math and reading on NWEA鈥檚 Map Growth assessment generally mirror national trends. (Courtesy of Andrea Johnson)

She believes that may be a latent impact of the pandemic on these younger students. Many of them had extra time at home with parents and caregivers, when early care and education programs were closed. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e used to someone being close and someone solving their problems for them,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e talk a lot about productive struggle. You鈥檝e gotta let them do it. Give them that mentality, where they鈥檝e gotta connect to that struggle.鈥�

She has definitely seen high rates of absenteeism among students in pre-K and kindergarten, she added. 

鈥淚 think they think, 鈥榩re-K and kinder, they don鈥檛 really matter that much,鈥欌�� Johnson said, adding that she often finds herself trying to communicate to families how crucial those years are for future learning and development.

Most measures of post-pandemic recovery have examined the impacts on students in later grades, making NWEA鈥檚 analysis a rare snapshot of students in grades K-2. 

Curriculum Associates, a curriculum and assessment provider, has also evaluated math and reading performance among students in the early grades, finding some similarities and key differences from NWEA鈥檚 results. 

NWEA鈥檚 Map Growth assessment and Curriculum Associates鈥� i-Ready Inform assessment are both widely used in U.S. schools, reaching a combined 19 million K-8 students. Both measure student achievement in math and reading, but they differ in approach.

Kristen Huff, head of measurement at Curriculum Associates, pointed out that these two assessments have distinct designs and methodologies 鈥� and that they are administered to different samples 鈥� which may account for variations in findings.

鈥淔rom the big picture, we鈥檙e seeing the same thing,鈥� Huff said. 鈥淪tudents today who were not in school 鈥� some were babies 鈥� when the pandemic hit are not performing at the same level as their pre-pandemic peers in either reading or math.鈥�

But in a published in July 2025, Curriculum Associates actually found that students in kindergarten are seeing achievement level drops in both math and reading, and that declining math performance in the early grades is 鈥渕ore drastic鈥� than in reading. 

At a high level, she said, both sets of findings send a similar message, which is that America鈥檚 children are not seeing the type of recovery needed to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels. 

鈥淚t opens up the question of what is happening,鈥� Huff said. 鈥淲e can no longer, in my opinion, say that that disrupted learning in 2020 and 2021 is the sole or primary cause of what we鈥檙e seeing. There is a larger, systemic issue 鈥� or issues 鈥� that are impacting this.鈥�

Mississippi fourth graders鈥� average math scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress were higher than their peers in at least 18 other states and in 20 other states in reading 鈥� a dramatic rise from the state鈥檚 standing a decade ago.

Experts say the big gains in fourth grade reading were in large part due to the 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act, a state law that raised literacy standards and established a reading 鈥済ate,鈥� a test that third graders have to pass to advance to fourth grade. The legislation focused on reading, but math scores started rising around the same time. 

However, despite the state鈥檚 national standing, the proficiency rates are middling. Just 38% of fourth-graders were proficient in math in 2024, and 32% in reading. 

By middle school, those rates falter even further: 22% of Mississippi eighth graders  on the 2024 math national assessment. It鈥檚 an improvement from 9% in 2000, but still lower than the national average. In reading, 23% of Mississippi eighth graders scored at or above NAEP Proficient in 2024, which is slightly lower than pre-pandemic averages. That average is also lower than in .

This year, state leaders are trying to prevent that drop-off and sharpen their focus on math.

 would expand the state鈥檚 existing literacy act into higher grades and establish a math framework that would involve interventions similar to those that contributed to the state鈥檚 celebrated gains in reading. That framework would be Mississippi鈥檚 first statewide math initiative. (The bill鈥檚 original language, which was entirely replaced by the House Education Committee, would have required computer science courses for high schools.)

A portion of the bill dubbed the 鈥淢ississippi Math Act鈥� would establish Moving Mathematics in Mississippi (M3), a framework that would require supports such as math coaches in all schools, prioritizing grades 2-6, screeners and targeted interventions and establishing a cut-off score on the state鈥檚 fifth-grade math assessment to ensure students are ready to take algebra classes.

鈥淚 think our reading success is something people talk about because it鈥檚 been a national topic of conversation across the country,鈥� said Grace Breazeale, a K-12 researcher at policy advocacy organization Mississippi First. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that math has necessarily been cast to the side over the past two decades 鈥� we have seen improvement 鈥� but there鈥檚 still a lot of room for improvement as well.鈥�

The math push, in particular, is in line with the Mississippi Department of Education鈥檚 shift toward economic development and workforce fortification. The department has recently reworked the standards by which schools are rated with a new focus on career and technical education. The state Board of Education approved the new accountability standards in November. 

Lawmakers say focusing on math will boost the state鈥檚 economy and pave the way for higher employment rates. 

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to change the culture in our schools,鈥� said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford. She authored a Math Act bill in her chamber, but the House killed it. 鈥淚nstead of kids saying, 鈥業鈥檓 bad at math,鈥� they should be saying, 鈥業 can do this.鈥� When we change that, we鈥檙e going to change the jobs our kids are able to go into and the careers they choose.鈥�

Adapting the Alabama model for math gains

Boyd remembers what it was like to look down at a sheet of math problems, wrought with frustration. Decades later, Boyd said, that feeling returned when her daughter came home with math homework and asked her to help.

鈥溾�奍 don鈥檛 want a child to feel that way,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want any parent to feel that way.鈥�

That鈥檚 why Boyd has championed the math act in her chamber. 

The bill was drafted with direction from the Mississippi Department of Education and with an eye toward other states that have implemented similar acts. Alabama, in particular, was a model, Boyd said. 

Alabama established a math act in 2022 aimed at improving K-5 math proficiency through intensive student interventions and teacher training, among other things. Subsequently, Alabama  where average fourth grade math NAEP scores were higher in 2024 than in 2019. There was no significant change in average NAEP scores for Mississippi fourth graders.

Latrenda Knighten, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, has been watching Alabama鈥檚 progress closely. 

鈥淭hey were one of the first to make that commitment and stick to it, and you鈥檝e seen that incremental change,鈥� she said. 鈥淪low and steady wins the race. That is because they thought about what the students needed and what the teachers needed.鈥�

Mississippi Education Department officials say the act鈥檚 framework, Moving Mathematics in Mississippi, would build on work the department is already doing, and similarly to the 2013 literacy act, it鈥檚 centered around collecting data, identifying struggling students and coaching teachers.

The math efforts would be concentrated in grades 2-6, said Wendy Clemons, the agency鈥檚 chief academic officer. 

鈥淩eally focusing on those grades, we feel, will make a difference,鈥� she said. 鈥淥bviously our state made a very focused, laser-like investment in K-3 literacy. My belief is that much of our tremendous success has to do with that commitment.鈥�

The department already deploys coaches to the most vulnerable districts and schools and hosts a statewide math conference for educators, but teachers say they want and need more support, Clemons said. 

鈥淲e worked with the department really closely on this,鈥� said House Education Committee Vice Chairman Kent McCarty, a Republican from Hattiesburg. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been implementing math coaches in districts throughout the state since 2023. We got a lot of data from them about where that鈥檚 worked, and we felt like the best thing we could do is expand on what they鈥檙e already doing.鈥�

The act won鈥檛 establish a 鈥済ate鈥� but it would put more focus on the fifth grade state math assessment. If students perform poorly on the test, parents would be notified, and an individualized plan would include specific steps to help that child improve their math proficiency. 

And there鈥檚 more to come. Lawmakers, including Boyd, say they鈥檇 like to see even more added to the bill, like more support for parents and more math training for education students.

On the right track for improving math instruction

Experts say there are some essential components to successfully teach math.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Knighten鈥檚 organization, identifies  that should be part of math education for teachers and students: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning and productive disposition.

And the Mississippi Department of Education鈥檚 standards, which establish a roadmap for K-12 mathematics education, are based on the council鈥檚 standards. The agency allows districts to choose their own curriculum from seven selected 鈥渉igh-quality instructional materials.鈥�

There are also four cornerstones to math education in Mississippi, Clemons said. It needs to be cohesive, on grade level, data-driven and include standards-aligned lessons. 

During Mississippi鈥檚 literacy push, lawmakers had the same goal of establishing consistency across districts. 

鈥淲e picked this one way that science said works, and we went with it,鈥� Boyd said of literacy instruction. 鈥淭raining and everything was done with literacy coaches to really make sure we were teaching in one way. So when children moved from district to district, there was a consistency.鈥�

A big part of the math bill would be deploying more coaches to districts across the state to underscore the importance of the standards and applying them uniformly. 

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had the investment in mathematics as we have in literacy,鈥� Clemons said. 鈥淲e just haven鈥檛 been able to say, 鈥楾his is what鈥檚 gonna make the difference. This will provide a lot more capacity, both at the state level and in the district levels, to provide that support to teachers and to students.鈥欌��

Knighten said Mississippi officials are on the right track.

鈥淢ath has always been a stepchild, for want of a better explanation. You hear people say they want to focus on math and reading, but when you look at the numbers, we spend more on literacy 鈥� so I鈥檓 excited to hear about what your state is doing.鈥�

Changing the culture around math

If state leaders want to see math gains, David Rock, dean of education at the University of Mississippi, recommends starting at the college level.

鈥淓veryone seemed to come together on literacy and did the training for pre-service teachers, and the results are there,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to see the same focus and passion on the math side.鈥�

After the 2013 literacy act, college education students were required to take more literacy education classes to graduate. The same needs to happen for math, Boyd said, to combat a culture of fear around math among students and teachers. 

It鈥檚 a self-perpetuating cycle: Students who aren鈥檛 confident in math don鈥檛 want to teach it. Fewer well-trained math teachers means fewer students who have a robust math education. 

鈥淚 realize there are people who have math anxiety,鈥� Rock said. 鈥淭o overcome that, we need to provide more training and opportunity to our pre-service teachers.鈥�

In addition to ramping up math training for teachers, some lawmakers are also interested in enshrining specific math standards in state law, establishing a math 鈥済ate鈥� and promoting a single curriculum for math instead of letting districts choose one.

鈥淲hat I鈥檝e heard from my body is they want more than what we鈥檝e just put in the act,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a work in progress.鈥�

It鈥檚 important to get the bill right, she said 鈥� not only for the success of the state鈥檚 education system, but Mississippi as a whole. 

鈥淭here are so many jobs that are just not available to somebody if they don鈥檛 have a solid math background,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to increase these math scores because it opens up a world of opportunity.鈥�

But that short-term focus on the averages loses sight of what鈥檚 happening at the tails 鈥� the top performers and the weakest 鈥� and how things have evolved over longer periods of time. 

To zoom out, I worked with Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 社区黑料鈥檚 art and technology director, to build the time-lapse tools below. 

The first one shows you the evolution of 12th grade math scores. This particular test was first administered in 2005 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. When the 2024 scores came out in September, 社区黑料 wrote about the declines overall and for the lowest-performing students.

The reading scores for 12^th graders are even more depressing. They haven鈥檛 gotten as much attention as the math scores, perhaps because the averages scores haven鈥檛 followed as dramatic of an up-and-down rollercoaster as the math scores have followed.

These graphs show the scores of 12^th graders in math and reading, but it鈥檚 likely that other grades and subjects would show similar patterns. It鈥檚 not just that average scores have declined across a wide range of tests, grades and subjects; we also have a lot more low-performing students than we did in the past. 

While the data presented here are at the national level, any state, district or school leader could see how things are changing in their community. At the classroom or school level, increased variability in student performance makes it harder for teachers to personalize their instruction and for school leaders to design systemwide supports. To get things back on track, policymakers should pay special attention to how their lowest-performing students are faring.

Each has implemented at least one of five strategies to boost student participation and success in the subject, according to in its recent report. 

Some, through these efforts, have reduced the need for remediation at the college level. This is particularly relevant for low-income students and those of color, who are more likely to be placed in these noncredit courses, which can derail their college trajectories. 

Concern over the issue has risen in recent years thanks to COVID: More than 900 students at the needed catch-up math classes in the fall of 2025 compared to just 32 five years earlier. And their lack of understanding wasn鈥檛 confined to high school: they were missing material they should have mastered in middle and Other universities reported similar problems.  

鈥淭oo often we spend a lot of energy discussing the challenges and constraints related to education or redesigning math,鈥� said Shakiyya Bland, Just Equations鈥� director of educational partnerships. 鈥淭his report highlights states that are doing the work, showing what鈥檚 possible 鈥� and showing results.鈥� 

The report recognized efforts in other regions, too. The Virginia Community College System, for example, saw the need for remedial math plummet from 40% of incoming students to 4% between 2014 and 2021 after it changed how it judged college math readiness and how it teaches students who need additional help, Bland said. 

鈥淚nstead of a single placement test that pushed huge numbers into noncredit remedial tracks, colleges started using multiple measures like high school GPA and math coursework, expanding access for more students to go straight into college鈥憀evel math with added support,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat shift, from assuming students weren鈥檛 ready to assuming they could succeed with the right help, is what drove the big drop in 鈥榬emedial鈥� placements.鈥�

Just Equations cited five strategies states can implement to align mathematics from high school to college, including course co-design, where secondary and post-secondary instructors unite to craft high school math sequences.  

The organization said, too, universities should have transparent expectations for incoming freshmen so these students know what is expected of them for various college majors. 

Just Equations also touts the value of senior year transition or readiness courses for high school students: These classes, the organization observes, help ensure students can handle the challenge of college-level work. 

States might also offer dual enrollment courses which allow high school students to earn college credit, saving them time and money, Just Equations concluded. They can also work to ensure public universities recognize new high school mathematics offerings so students are properly credited for those classes. 

Georgia redesigned its math pathway through a partnership with K-12 and higher education math teachers to make sure new high school courses aligned with college entry requirements. The state also added several new courses for high school seniors, including Advanced Placement Statistics and Mathematics of Industry and Government. 

California had given students conflicting guidance about how many years of high school math they needed: State law demanded two while school districts often required three and some colleges recommended four. State universities are now more transparent about what is needed for college success in general and in specific majors.

Just Equations notes Tennessee鈥檚 efforts date back 18 years when its high school students were first required to complete four years of math, including Algebra II. The state鈥檚 mathematics offerings have been reworked numerous times since then and statistics has emerged as a valuable course for many.

Out West, Utah鈥檚 dual-enrollment program made college-level classes more accessible and affordable. The state also expanded the range of math pathways for high school students beyond college algebra, a course that relies heavily on algebraic procedures where students often struggle with the material and finding its relevancy.

Students may now opt for quantitative reasoning, focusing on practical numeracy skills such as personal finance and statistical reasoning or introductory statistics, geared toward life sciences, business and social sciences.

Mike Spencer, secondary mathematics specialist for the state board of education, said the change has been helpful to many students who might otherwise be kept out of college by their inability to pass a course that often had no bearing on their major or career aspiration. 

But, he said, students were reluctant to make the switch. 

鈥淲hen it was first released, we saw a majority of our students were still taking college algebra, partly because of tradition,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淪o, we made a significant effort to help inform students, families and counselors to understand why you would go into each of these.鈥�

Just Equations noted, too, Utah鈥檚 university professors help craft high school syllabuses, screen high school teachers to teach college-level courses, and 鈥渧erify grading consistency using common assessments.鈥� It credits these and other changes for a massive increase in the rate of high school seniors completing four years of math, from 28% in 2012 to 87% in 2020. 

Bland of Just Equations said states should routinely bring together K鈥�12, higher education, and workforce leaders to find the best math pathways for students. And, she said, they should invest in sustained professional development and K鈥�16 longitudinal data to track students into the workforce to learn which math experiences best supported their success. 

Five years ago, Oregon adopted new mathematics standards intended to be 鈥渕ore modern and equitable,鈥� moving away from the three-course sequence of Algebra I, geometry and Algebra II to a required two-year core curriculum focused on algebra, geometry and data/statistics. 

Students can now choose a course of study for a required third year 鈥� including mathematical modeling, data science and quantitative reasoning 鈥� and an optional fourth year. 

The changes required colleges to revisit their stated requirements. The University of Oregon, for example, mandated Algebra II for all incoming students, but now requires three or more years of high school math, which 鈥渃ould be satisfied by any math course with a primary focus on concepts in algebra, calculus, data science, discreet mathematics, geometry, mathematical analysis, probability or statistics.鈥� 

In addition to the five core states at the heart of the study, Just Equations also lauded North Carolina鈥檚 automatic enrollment policy, adopted in 2018, which places students who score high on state assessments into advanced mathematics courses for the following year, eliminating subjective recommendations. More than 95% of the state鈥檚 eighth-grade students who scored at the highest level were placed in advanced math courses in 2022鈥�23, up from 87% in 2017鈥�18, before the policy was enacted. 

While these states have made noteworthy progress, critics note problems remain. 

A lack of longitudinal data in Tennessee makes it difficult to understand the impact of the changes that have taken shape there, state officials say. 

鈥淥ne of the goals that I have over the next year or so is to better track the entire arc of the student journey,鈥� said Juliette Biondi, who directs the state鈥檚 Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support program, as documented in the report. 鈥淚 want to understand how they do in their college math classes. Do they struggle? Does it influence graduation rates?鈥�

Utah, too, can also improve: Rural areas find it hard to recruit and retain qualified teachers for college-level courses, leading them to rely on virtual instruction.

And Jo Boaler, the Stanford professor who helped California reshape its math program, said she regularly observes ineffective teaching practices that undermine K-12 learning.

鈥淎ll I can see is that we have not built conceptual understanding or number sense well by the end of school,鈥� Boaler told 社区黑料. 鈥淲hen I visit classrooms, I still see students going through uninspiring textbook math. Maybe there has been some improvement but I have not heard about it or seen it yet.鈥�

Disclosure: The Gates Foundation provides financial support to Just Equations and 社区黑料.

For decades, educators have searched for better ways to answer a question students ask 鈥� sometimes aloud, sometimes silently 鈥� every day: Why does this matter? this summer found nearly half of U.S. middle and high schoolers reported losing interest in math about half or more of the time during class, and three-quarters said they lose interest at least sometimes.

Teachers are echoing a similar sentiment 鈥� three-fourths of educators surveyed in the most recent cited lack of student motivation as a leading challenge for the 2025-26 school year, with half of those respondents saying it is the top challenge students face. In math classrooms, where young people often feel anxious and struggle to understand how the material connects to everyday situations, motivating students is especially difficult.

As a former math teacher and administrator, I know there is certainly no lack of rigor or standards. The real difficulty is in helping students see how mathematical thinking shows up beyond worksheets and tests.

Events that students already pay attention to can help make math feel real. The Winter Olympics, for example, offer ready-made ways to connect math instruction to real-world problem solving, without adding new curriculum or instructional time.

Already top of mind for many students, the Olympics are filled with mathematics hiding in plain sight. The most obvious example is the stopwatch. Who wins gold, silver or bronze is frequently determined by hundredths of a second, making mathematical precision more than an abstract idea. Students analyzing race times can explore decimals, rounding and margins of error while seeing firsthand why accuracy matters when outcomes are this close. Suddenly, numbers start to carry true weight.

Ratios and proportions also emerge naturally in the Olympics. Torch relay data, for example, can teach students to compare distances covered by different runners for each leg, calculate average pace times and compare how they change day to day. These kinds of problems let students practice proportional reasoning and see how math can be used to coordinate complex events.

Data analysis becomes equally meaningful when students examine medal counts, scoring systems or competitors’ performance trends over time. Moving beyond reading charts to interpreting them helps students build the kind of data literacy that is increasingly essential for landing high-paying jobs across many segments of the workforce.

Speed, acceleration and force are no longer abstract ideas when students analyze downhill skiing or bobsledding. Comparing angles of descent or calculating velocity connects formulas to movement that students can see and replay. Math moves from a set of memorization procedures to a way of understanding the physical world.

What makes these approaches powerful is their accessibility. Teachers do not need to overhaul their curriculum to make math relevant. Strong instructional materials, thoughtful task design and real-world examples that students already know about are enough 鈥� and they provide the kind of instruction that reflects what research and classroom experience consistently show. 

Students learn math best when they can , explore it and connect it to something meaningful or recognizable in their everyday lives. Problems that invite different approaches to solving problems, such as drawing models or explaining reasoning out loud, help students build confidence 鈥� particularly those who have learned to fear being wrong. Relevance supports rigor by encouraging deep thinking and a personal investment in finding answers.

The Olympics will eventually fade from the headlines, but the bigger lesson is in recognizing that the world offers constant, mathematically rich moments waiting to be used. 

At a time when schools are under intense pressure to raise achievement and prepare students for a rapidly changing economy, relevance is not optional. students. It plays a direct role in whether students stay engaged and persist through challenging material. When young people can see how math connects to the world around them, they are more likely to participate, take risks and build confidence. When they cannot, math can feel abstract and disconnected, leading students to disengage and view it as a burden rather than a useful skill.

Grounding math in real-world problem solving means looking beyond textbooks to places where students might naturally encounter math in the world outside of the classroom 鈥� like the Winter Olympics. When educators consistently make those connections, math changes from something students endure to something they can use. That shift is essential to improving both engagement and outcomes.

But new I led found that difficulties with advanced topics often stem from earlier gaps in understanding. Because mathematics is cumulative, students who struggle with algebra, for example, may be facing with fractions, number sense or other skills typically developed in earlier grades. When these deficiencies go unaddressed, they persist and create bigger problems down the road. 

These deficiencies are shaped by instructional choices made in classrooms every day. Chief among them is the ongoing debate over whether students are being equipped with a genuine understanding or merely trained to follow steps. 

In reality, requires both. Students must know how to carry out procedures, but also need to understand why they apply to specific problems. Like a chef, mastering math is not just about following a recipe or executing techniques correctly; it is about understanding how elements work together so that, when faced with something new, students know how to reason through the problem and build on previous knowledge.

And this imbalance often begins . For example, in early elementary grades, the pressure to focus on rote memorization of addition facts and subtraction 鈥渢ricks鈥� can occur at the expense of number sense. When memorization is prioritized over understanding the quantities involved, we set the stage for the conceptual disconnect that becomes a crisis in later grades.

In many traditional math curricula, procedural knowledge . Students memorize steps and by middle school, that can become their entire conception of math. When students understand the steps through conceptual knowledge, they can explain and justify their work. In a classroom, this may look like a student understanding that the area of a triangle is half that of a rectangle because they can visually decompose the shapes, rather than simply reciting the formula A=12bh. This can help them make connections and understand the 鈥渨hy鈥� behind the process. even points to conceptual understanding improving procedural knowledge more than vice versa.

The focus on procedural knowledge could be driven in part by the need for schools to meet goals for standardized test scores. Standardized testing rewards correct answers more than understanding, which may reinforce the imbalance of conceptual and procedural learning. Many reduce teacher performance to student test scores, despite these scores failing to capture a complete picture of student learning. Under this pressure, many teachers may feel compelled to 鈥�,鈥� prioritizing procedural accuracy to ensure their students can answer the basic multiple-choice questions that dominate these exams.

Declines in NAEP scores may intensify the urgency, fueling a climate where short-term gains matter more than long-term mathematical understanding. In a standardized testing-focused environment, conceptual knowledge can feel like a risk.

Addressing this imbalance does not require eliminating standardized tests, nor does it demand that every lesson become an exhaustive explanation. Instead, it requires an intentional approach to integrating conceptual knowledge into math instruction. Procedural knowledge remains essential, but it should be grounded in meaning and understanding, not memorization alone.

For this to happen, educators must be supported in teaching conceptually. Professional development that emphasizes conceptual explanations, student reasoning, and common misconceptions can bridge this gap.

Teachers also need tools that make conceptual knowledge manageable within real classroom constraints. Diagnostic assessments, formative checks and student work analysis can reveal where understanding breaks down, allowing teachers to target specific concepts not well understood. When instruction focuses on the ideas students struggle with most, conceptual knowledge can become feasible.

Tools that use diagnostic questions to identify where students鈥� understanding of math concepts falls short 鈥� what researchers call 鈥溾�� or 鈥渋nstructionally relevant errors鈥� 鈥� can help educators gain insight into how students think about and approach math problems. Rather than spending valuable instructional time trying to infer misunderstandings, educators can focus on addressing them. 

A randomized controlled trial across 20 schools and 3,000 students found that students who used one such tool achieved in a single school year. The tool was developed with support from the , which assists learning engineers in the development of AI-based tools that will significantly improve middle school math learning.

Math is hard 鈥� but perhaps that is because it is often taught without meaning. Many students learn the steps to solving a problem without ever understanding why it works. Procedures alone are not enough. Memorization can only take students so far; true learning happens when knowledge can be applied. If we want students to reason, problem-solve and build their math knowledge, conceptual knowledge cannot be optional.

cites content, competencies, ways of thinking, and motivators as the cornerstones to numeracy. The findings build upon hundreds of earlier studies and will help kids enter middle school with a strong math foundation, CEO Arun Ramanathan said. 

And there is considerable consensus to the approach, he said.  

鈥淭he framework offers long-needed alignment: not how to teach, but what must be developed and how the pieces fit,鈥� Ramanathan said in an email. 

According to its report, released Feb. 4, content is centered on the core mathematical ideas all future learning is based on while competencies refers to the skills students need to use math meaningfully. 

Ways of thinking encompasses the cognitive processes that support reasoning and problem-solving while motivators signal the beliefs and mindsets that foster engagement and persistence.

鈥淚f you asked teachers what they think numeracy is, you will get a lot of different answers,鈥� said Gloria Lee, lead author of the report. 鈥淭here is not a clear framework or scaffolding for people to communicate all of these parts. So, we are trying to fill that void.鈥� 

The organization acknowledges the ongoing math wars, which pit explicit instruction, procedural fluency, guided practice and repetition against inquiry-based learning and conceptual understanding. It calls the dispute an unnecessary distraction. 

PowerMyLearning, which hopes their paper becomes a guide for educators and policymakers, said each of these pillars breaks down into four different categories. 

The four areas of content, for example, are integers, fractions, shapes and data while the four competencies are conceptual understanding, fact fluency, procedural fluency and application. The four ways of thinking are symbolic understanding, pattern recognition, explaining and sense-making while the motivators include math identity and persistence.

鈥淭eachers, administrators and families must make intentional efforts to communicate that math is for everyone and everyone belongs in math,鈥� the paper notes. 鈥淭his requires explicitly promoting inclusive messages and countering negative ones, creating inclusive classroom environments, and establishing policies for support and acceleration rather than exclusivity.鈥�

Jo Boaler, a mathematics education professor at Stanford University who co-authored California鈥檚 new math framework, reviewed PowerMyLearning鈥檚 paper and provided research for it. 

鈥淚 appreciate that the report gives a balanced perspective on number sense, highlighting the importance of reasoning, problem solving and mindset, as well as procedures,鈥� she said. 鈥淗opefully it helps to bridge the divides in mathematics education.鈥�

was established in 1999 under another name and focused on technology in the classroom, including giving free hardware and software to schools in need. It later shifted to the 鈥渢riangle of learning relationships鈥� among students, teachers and families before zeroing in on early math. Though the organization aims to improve education for all, it has a focus on multilingual learners and children from historically underserved communities.

CEO Ramanathan told 社区黑料 in an interview last week that despite ongoing disputes about how math should be taught, there is actually an enormous amount of agreement around what students need to succeed. 

鈥淲hen you look at the areas folks are disagreeing about 鈥� conceptual understanding, fact fluency and procedural fluency 鈥� we put them all in one area, as competencies,鈥� he said. 

Students, he said, can鈥檛 spend all of their time repeating certain skills. 

鈥淭hey also have to be able to dig deeply into the reasons why certain elements of mathematics result in a correct answer,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or folks to be focusing on one element of that versus all of them together, when you see them all in one place, you don鈥檛 see them as (being) in conflict but in alignment.鈥� 

There is no need to favor one element of learning over another, the report notes.

鈥淚n fact, the evidence is clear that fluency with facts and procedures helps students with conceptual understanding and vice versa. Numeracy requires fluency with facts and procedures as well as conceptual understanding and the ability to apply these mathematical capabilities to situations in the real world.鈥�

The group says its findings further the and integrate more than 200 studies across math learning science, developmental psychology, and mathematics education.

Disclosure: The Gates Foundation and the Joseph Drown Foundation provide financial support to PowerMyLearning and 社区黑料.

For the first time in its 17-year history, every eighth grader inside Center City Public Charter School鈥檚 Congress Heights campus completed Algebra I last school year. And a full 70% scored proficient on statewide assessments in 2024-25.

Just 25% of all D.C. students and 64% of those in wealthy Ward 3 scored the same. Ward 8 as a whole lagged dramatically, with just 15% of children meeting or exceeding the math proficiency benchmark.

The Congress Heights school serves 251 students pre-K through 8: 98% are Black and 60% receive government assistance for food and/or housing. 

Principal Niya White came on board in 2012, when the school was slated to be closed by the because of a poor school culture and student performance, she said. 

鈥淭his is one of those turnaround stories no one ever expected to come to fruition,鈥� White said. 鈥淏y just the demographics, not too many people expect our students to be able to win and show up in the ways that they do.鈥�

The victory comes after years of reassessing how and when math standards would be taught, White said, and making sure the students were prepared.

鈥淲e extended the school year last summer for four weeks to get students ready,鈥� White said. 鈥淲e finished the accelerated learning by merging their seventh- and eighth-grade standards to make sure they completed all course work prior to starting Algebra I to guarantee we weren鈥檛 moving forward with any gaps.鈥�

Eighth-grade access to Algebra I is critical because it sets students up for higher-level math in 12th grade. This is particularly helpful for those who seek to study STEM in college, hoping to land a job in a high-paying field. 

The Congress Heights campus has tracked these eighth graders鈥� scores as they moved through elementary and into the higher grades. In 2019-20, third graders there scored in the 68th percentile on the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, math exam, a computer-adaptive assessment designed to measure students鈥� growth over time. 

These children did not take the test as fourth graders because of the COVID closures, but their fifth-grade scores 鈥� they reached only the 49th percentile 鈥� reveal what was lost. 

This group has made steady improvements in the years since: they reached the 60th percentile in math in 2022-23 and the 85th in 2023-24 and 2024-25.  

The Congress Heights school is one of six in the , which serves 1,440 children in total. 

Jessi Mericola, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade math, spanning everything from interest rates to algebra, credited several factors for the school鈥檚 success, including her prior knowledge of students鈥� ability in addition to relatively small class sizes 鈥� a maximum of 25 children.

The Congress Heights campus also uses a co-teaching model for math, which Mericola said allows her and her co-teacher to better serve all students鈥� needs. 

Oftentimes, she said, one educator stands at the classroom whiteboard to impart lessons while the other identifies and helps struggling students in small groups or individually. 

The setup, Mericola said, allows the adults in the room to spot-tutor kids who have trouble catching on, their struggle made obvious by the quizzical looks on their faces.

鈥淭hose are the things you would notice and pick up on,鈥� Mericola said. 

Kennedy Morse, 13, and in this year鈥檚 eighth-grade class, was once one of those puzzled kids. She is now thriving in a subject that used to elude her. 

鈥淏efore I came to Center City, math was something I struggled with,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have proper guidance. Now, it鈥檚 one of my strongest subjects.鈥�

Principal White said the school鈥檚 success hinged in part on a change in attitude about students鈥� ability. She and other educators recognized the profound impact COVID had on learning but didn鈥檛 want to treat these children as if they were incapable of mastering on-grade tasks. 

鈥淚f we kept saying the students aren鈥檛 going to be able to do something, then we will never be able to move them forward,鈥� White said.

Rather than fret about what they lacked, she said, the school decided to simply teach the material, progressing students through the curriculum while also plugging in what they had missed.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 hold somebody back because they don’t have all of their multiplication facts through 25 memorized,鈥� White said. 鈥淭hat is not the answer or the way.鈥� 

Students, as evidenced by their test scores, are meeting the challenge. 

White said, too, the school gives teachers the time they need to plan lessons that permit for this. 

And, she said, the Congress Heights campus runs on data, assessing students鈥� knowledge throughout the school year, starting shortly after the bell rings: Math teachers frequently begin their lessons with two questions. Sometimes, it鈥檚 a measure of what students learned the day before. Other times, it鈥檚 a preview of a lesson to come. From this simple exercise, teachers learn whether they need a quick review or if they can forge ahead. 

And the data collection is not solely focused on academics. Josh Boots, founder and executive director of Empower K12, a nonprofit that supports data collection and analysis for both charter and traditional D.C. public schools, said the Congress Heights campus uses all manner of metrics to learn if what they are doing is working. 

For example, Boots said, when the school began using to shuttle kids in high-crime areas to and from campus starting in the 2024-25 school year, they didn鈥檛 simply make the program available: They checked to see if safe passage actually improved attendance. 

Money was limited for the program so not all eligible students were able to use it. But, Boots said, those who did had seven more days of school attendance last year and 12 fewer late arrivals than the students who didn’t have access to the program.听

鈥淚t is critical,鈥� Boots said of the data the school tracks. 鈥淚t helps us know how students are feeling and doing on a regular basis. We can sometimes see it but the harder data confirms it 鈥� or doesn鈥檛 confirm it.鈥�

He said, too, school leaders know they are not going to solve every problem right away. 

鈥淏ut we need to be able to fail forward,鈥� he said, quoting White. 鈥淲e need to know as quickly as possible that something is 鈥� or is not 鈥� working, so we can change and improve so that every student gets the opportunities they deserve.鈥� 

And, Principal White said, all of the math lessons are video recorded so students can go back and review their teacher鈥檚 instructions. 

鈥淭hey have a play list for every lesson,鈥� she said, adding students can also retake some in-classroom tests to improve their scores. 鈥淚f they got a 60 on their first try, that 60 doesn’t stand. They can go back for the week, redo it, ask questions and use videos to see what (they) got wrong and resubmit it to make the grade higher.鈥�

White said, too, the school addresses the math mindset at the start of the school year so students don鈥檛 begin their classes convinced they can鈥檛 succeed. 

鈥淲e make sure they know in order to be a math person you just have to be a person and manipulate math,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat really does get them out of their own way, especially if they are coming to us new. If you do math, and you鈥檙e a person, you are a math person.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to revamp the way the state鈥檚 schools teach math.

Hochul announced the plan in her annual State of the State address on Tuesday, along with several child care and education initiatives she has previewed over the past week. The governor鈥檚 broader agenda includes funding a ; expanding pre-K and child care vouchers statewide; growing a ; bolstering the state鈥檚 teacher training pipeline; and building on free community college for adults who want to train for high-demand careers.

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The governor鈥檚 office released few details about the plan to overhaul math, but in its outlining Hochul鈥檚 priorities for the year, state officials compared it to existing efforts to revamp literacy instruction. The governor has worked with teachers and school districts to adopt evidence-based 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� practices that focus on phonics and explicit reading instruction, state officials wrote.

Similarly, Hochul said in her Tuesday speech that it is time to get 鈥渂ack to basics鈥� in math. 鈥淢y hope is for New York students to be the most academically prepared in the country,鈥� Hochul said.

To that end, she will introduce legislation to require the State Education Department to provide school districts with best practices for teaching math and guidance on selecting math curriculums that align with state standards.

The state will also require the State University of New York and the City University of New York to offer extra training in evidence-based math instruction to teachers, especially in New York鈥檚 districts with the lowest math performance.

鈥淲ith these proposals, New York parents can rest assured that there is no better place for their children to learn and thrive than here in our state,鈥� Hochul said.

New York City is already several years into an experiment in mandating and standardizing school curriculums in the name of evidence-based teaching practices. Well before the state rolled out its curriculum recommendations, former Mayor Eric Adams introduced a teaching overhaul called NYC Reads, which required elementary schools to use one of three city-approved reading programs.

At the same time, under a math reform called NYC Solves, the city required high schools, and later some middle schools, to adopt a standardized curriculum for algebra.

Some educators and experts contended that it didn鈥檛 make sense to introduce a math overhaul in high school, and lacked the vocabulary or tools to follow what was being taught.

New York City鈥檚 new schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, seems to agree.

Math reform should start with elementary schools, he 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 do math well,鈥� Samuels added, students won鈥檛 鈥渂e ready for the jobs that exist, much less the jobs that don鈥檛.鈥�

Samuels also argued for a balancing a 鈥渂ack-to-basics鈥� approach to math that emphasizes memorization and math facts with a focus on creative problem-solving. Conceptual understanding is important, Samuels said, but parents 鈥渓ook back at me and say, 鈥楳y kid is in fourth grade and doesn鈥檛 know the times tables.鈥欌��

鈥淲e think of [times tables] as an old thing, but we absolutely need to incorporate it so that our parents can believe in what we do again,鈥� Samuels said.

The jury remains out on whether New York City鈥檚 curriculum mandates have improved performance. The Adams administration they said were evidence of positive results, but education experts say it鈥檚 too soon to draw conclusions.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

As American students continue to flounder in math, Bellwether, a national nonprofit that seeks to improve opportunities and outcomes for marginalized kids, said schools seeking a turnaround must first establish a clear, shared vision of effective math instruction.

鈥淗ow We Solve America鈥檚 Math Crisis: A Systemwide Approach to Evidence-Based Math Learning,鈥� Bellwether’s done in partnership with K12 Coalition, talks about building a teacher and student 鈥渕ath identity鈥� and balancing 鈥渃onceptual understanding and procedural fluency while creating meaningful opportunities for real-world application.鈥澨�

The plan must also ensure that learning progresses 鈥渓ogically and cumulatively鈥� to deepen students鈥� knowledge as they move through the perennially difficult subject over time. 

鈥淭hese steps may seem familiar, and that鈥檚 because they are widely accepted best practices for developing and sustaining strong instructional design,鈥� the report reads. 鈥淗owever, to be effective, they must be consistently applied over time and throughout the system.鈥�

And that鈥檚 where schools have fallen short, Bellwether鈥檚 researchers note, despite evidence supporting the approach. 

鈥淒ata demonstrate that when high-quality materials, intentional instructional practices, and strong teacher support are combined, students鈥� math proficiency can improve significantly 鈥� even in schools starting with very low baseline scores.鈥�

Anson Jackson, senior partner at Bellwether, sat down with 社区黑料鈥檚 Jo Napolitano to describe what schools need to do to get on track. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

What is effective math instruction? 

There’s a couple of layers to that. At the baseline, it is leaders, teachers and essential office personnel all understanding what good math instruction looks like. And they are not just focused on outcomes, but on the practices they want to see in math classrooms, the mindsets in math classrooms. There鈥檚 a shared understanding of what they believe math instruction looks like. That then determines how they build their professional development, how they build their training and how they build their assessments. It’s almost like a philosophy on math instruction. Without that philosophy, it’s like whack-a-mole. 

After they reach this consensus, what then? 

You then align on what those systems and structures look like to support that vision for mathematics. If you are focused on hands-on activities, then you want to have systems to train staff on how to develop strong activities to facilitate hands-on learning. If you believe kids need to show the work and do the math, you need to build in systems that allow kids to show the work and do the math on a regular basis. So that’s the idea: build a philosophy, build a vision, and then build a structure to support that vision throughout the district.

What if you don鈥檛 implement a shared vision? 

When you don’t have that, success is random. Teacher development is random. You’re always changing what is in front of kids or in front of teachers. When there’s no real shared vision, then the next leader who comes in changes the vision. And, without that shared vision, when you go from grade to grade, students don’t have the coherence of learning, which they need for success in math.

How can schools identify 鈥� and adopt 鈥� high-quality instructional materials, especially when time and money are tight? 

The first thing they need to do is understand the science behind mathematics and math learning. High-quality materials are backed by science and evidence of learning. Secondly, there must be coherence across grade levels 鈥� and in grade levels. The curriculum must be aligned. But before I get to the curriculum, I want to understand the key things that we know by science and evidence happen for kids to learn math at a high, high level. That could involve professional development, training, school visits, observations, doing some light research and analysis of what math looks like and coming to these conclusions as a collective 鈥� from the superintendent to chief academic officers, principals and teachers.

From there, I would then have them do a gap analysis of what they know works. They should ask, 鈥淲hat in our curriculum is missing or lacking from what we know should be there?鈥� From that gap analysis, hopefully they’ll determine, 鈥淥h, guess what? Light bulb moment: We are missing the mark on the curriculum or the materials.鈥�

After that, they go through an adoption process where they take a look at what’s out there, and make some choices. But it needs to be a shared learning experience and not just that a team is told to adopt something because experts said it’s good. They should really understand why it’s good and what in the curriculum makes it high quality.

Is there a shortcut for cash-strapped schools with little time to do this? 

The short answer is yes: There’s lots of resources out there, including lists of high-quality instructional materials that are already vetted and backed by science. You can also use Google or ChatGPT to find them. However, this is where implementation can fail, without a deep understanding of the curriculum and why it works. A lot of folks, when things get hard, they put it away, right? 

So, I would say, yes, expert A can tell you the best resource for mathematics teaching and give you a set of resources. And that’s great. But unless they understand the true reasoning behind it and how it connects to learning, teacher practice, and systems, a lot of times it becomes another resource that’s on the shelf in two years.

How do you get teachers to support your approach? 

It鈥檚 about trying to get them engaged early on in the process, not telling them what to do, but having them learn what to do. I would not try to beat them down, but have them understand what’s working already and what’s missing. 

The second piece is that I would want to use a coaching model, side-by-side training and support for teachers 鈥� and not use it in a negative way. A lot of times we’ll shift to, 鈥淵ou’re not doing this, you’re a bad teacher,鈥� when it鈥檚 actually more about a learning continuum, as in, 鈥淲e’re going to focus on this in year one, year two and year three.鈥�

What’s at stake if we don’t improve kids’ math scores?

The data shows a lot of the careers that are high paying usually have math as a core foundation. And the other piece is we know there’s an equity gap in this country when it comes to those who do math well and those who don’t 鈥� which leads to career choices, right? We want to close the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Disclosure: Andrew Rotherham is a co-founder and senior partner at Bellwether who sits on 社区黑料鈥檚 board of directors. He played no role in the reporting or editing of this article.

Holidays bring celebration, rest and, for many families, long stretches of indoor time. For some, this means on kitchen tables. Games provide opportunities for learning mathematics actively.

This year鈥檚 list of stories takes us to Chicago, where several public schools sit mostly empty due to under enrollment; to Baltimore, where students are navigating a complicated transit system to get to school, often causing them to miss their first period class; and to Austin, where tweens attend 鈥渃otillion鈥� classes that teach them how to fold a napkin, hold utensils and dance. They also tell the stories of a beloved child care worker detained by ICE, a teen who tragically fell in love with a chatbot and Black-owned barbershops that have made it their mission to get boys in their communities to fall in love with reading. And there鈥檚 more鈥�

The selections come from large national publications, as well as local news and nonprofit newsrooms. Below, in no particular order, are 19 stories our team admired most this year. We hope you take the time to read (and share) these important stories written and produced by talented education journalists in newsrooms across the country.

By , Chalkbeat, and , ProPublica

The need to close underenrolled schools has become an important storyline this year, but few areas are dealing with as many nearly-empty buildings as Chicago Public Schools. ProPublica鈥檚 Jennifer Smith Richards and Chalkbeat鈥檚 Mila Koumpilova completed an in-depth analysis of underutilized schools in the country鈥檚 fourth-largest district and found that three in 10 buildings sit half-empty. And many come with a steep per-student price tag 鈥� the highest being $93,000. Richards and Koumpilova carefully explained Chicago鈥檚 history of school closures and the tense fight between district officials, families and the teachers union about next steps. They tune into what matters most: How tiny schools 鈥� some with enrollments in the double digits 鈥� impact student opportunities and educational experience. Some students seem to thrive in a tight-knit community, but the overarching lack of resources causes challenges for everyone. 鈥淵ou try to have a homecoming, but there鈥檚 no football team,鈥� said a former principal of Hirsch High School, which has 100 students in a building that can fit 1,000. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing to come home to.鈥�

 

By The 19th 

As immigration enforcement activities have escalated over the past year, the early care and education workforce has been on edge. Immigrants represent more than 20% of the child care workforce nationwide. Chabeli Carrazana’s story for The 19th about Nicolle Orozco Forero 鈥� an immigrant child care provider who takes care of children with disabilities and was taken into ICE custody with her family 鈥� sheds light on the immense impact her detention and eventual deportation had on her community. Carrazana traces Orozco Forero鈥檚 journey: from fleeing Colombia two years earlier with her husband and sons, to searching for answers to her son鈥檚 unexplained illness to working toward her dream of opening her own child care program. Carrazana also illustrates how Orozco Forero鈥檚 rare expertise in supporting children with disabilities filled a critical gap in a field already strained by staffing shortages and limited specialized care. This story stays with you, especially the deep ripple effect of Orozco Forero鈥檚 deportation on the families and community she served.

Visuals by Eli Durst; Text by Dina Gachman, The New York Times

In Austin, tweens are attending 鈥渃otillion鈥� classes where they learn how to fold a napkin, hold utensils and dance. These aren鈥檛 essential life skills but surreptitiously the founders of the Southwest Austin Cotillion hope to teach the kids social skills and build their confidence. The strict no-electronics policy ensures the kids embrace the awkwardness of it all. It鈥檚 inspiring to see these kids put on a brave face and give way to the odd social mores 鈥� at least for a few hours. The fly on the wall black-and-white photography and spare text of this article did an excellent job illustrating the story. Kudos to producers Jolie Ruben and Josephine Sedgwick for creating an interactive experience that feels like an old Life magazine article reinvented for the web. Here, the future of storytelling borrows from the past and utilizes the latest technology where it works.

By Iowa Public Radio

Following the pandemic, school districts ramped up the use of the four-day school week to address a teacher absenteeism crisis and recruit staff at a time of severe shortages. Nicole Grundmeier with Iowa Public Radio鈥檚 Midwest Newsroom took a deep look at the trend with her August feature on how the policies have affected students. With data, research and personal stories, she captured the tough choices districts face as they weigh the benefits and drawbacks of giving staff and kids a longer weekend. Jayce Moody, who used to wander out of class and throw things in frustration, could better manage his behavior with a shorter school week. 鈥淗e no longer has to miss school for therapy and other appointments,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淛ayce jumped several levels in reading.鈥� But other families, she wrote, depend on schools for child care or food pantries to stretch meals until Monday. Grundmeier鈥檚 reporting offered a thoughtful examination of what happens before and after school boards vote on such a pivotal change to the schedule and how opting in favor of a reduced school week might not accomplish what they鈥檇 hoped it would. 

By and , The Baltimore Banner

Every day, hundreds of Baltimore middle and high schoolers are missing when the first-period bell rings 鈥� the result of a public transit system that makes it virtually impossible for as many as 25,000 students to get to class on time. Without a yellow bus system beyond elementary school, an investigation by The Baltimore Banner found, children as young as 11 crisscross the city on long, unpredictable and sometimes dangerous journeys that frequently get them to class late, or not at all. They stand in drenching rain, endure sexual harassment from strangers and witness violent fights on buses on commutes that can take 40 minutes each way on a good day 鈥� and often last twice as long. As the district doesn鈥檛 collect data on how students get to school, The Banner modeled their trips based on where they live and the school they attend. It then tracked the location of every Maryland Transit Administration bus every five seconds, 20 hours a day, and mapped those commutes using innovative, interactive graphics. The result: a poignant portrait of young people whose futures are being put at risk by the simple lack of a safe, dependable ride to school.

By , The Associated Press

Housing insecurity can be incredibly disruptive to a family鈥檚 life, especially when it comes to children鈥檚 education. To highlight this challenge, Associated Press reporter Bianca V谩zquez Toness followed an Atlanta mother as she navigated the process of finding an apartment in the right school district, keeping her son on track academically and making enough money to keep the family afloat. There’s something about how Toness opened this story that felt brilliantly relatable and illustrated how issues, like housing insecurity, can happen to anyone. Toness does a good job humanizing these vulnerable circumstances and giving a glimpse into how hard parents work and fight to make sure their children are set up for success. You can tell Toness not only earned the trust of the family she highlighted, and told their story with the utmost amount of dignity, but she also was incredibly well-informed and resourced on how complex eviction is and can be. 

By, The New York Times Magazine

Florida attorney and mother of three, Megan Garcia, has become perhaps the best-known face in the fast-emerging legal and regulatory battle over AI chatbots. After her 14-year-old son died by suicide after forming an intensely romantic and sexually explicit relationship with a Character.AI bot, Garcia sued the tech creators for wrongful death, participated in multiple interviews and testified before the U.S. Senate about the need for stronger guardrails. By giving writer Jesse Baron access to her son鈥檚 conversations with the bot that personified Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, Garcia enabled a masterful Baron to produce a gripping and illuminating account of how a lonely and often-despairing young teen can fall in love with a robot, losing the line between reality and fantasy and slipping further away from the physical world and its human relationships. It鈥檚 a harrowing descent. The Garcia case will likely be among the first to establish legal precedent around the juggernaut that is AI. Days after Barron鈥檚 story ran, Character.AI announced that it was banning those under 18 from using its chatbots. All of that comes too late for Sewell Setzer III, who truly believed that by dying he would be going home to Westeros and his one true love.

By Alvin Chang, The Pudding 

How much do children鈥檚 environment and experiences influence the rest of their life? Alvin Chang鈥檚 interactive 鈥淭his Is a Teenager鈥� tackles that question with ease 鈥� turning National Longitudinal Surveys data into conversational, visual storytelling. The project follows hundreds of teens into their late 30s, allowing viewers to dive into 24 years of circumstances and consequences. As the interactive timeline moves through the years, you can see who went to college, who stayed financially stable, who was the victim of violence, who considers themselves happy. I was absorbed for hours. The project revisits one teen in particular, called Alex, who grew up in a high-risk environment. He had a difficult home life, was bullied and held back in school. By 2021, he reported feeling depressed 鈥渕ost of the time.鈥� Yet, as Chang writes, 鈥渨e are blamed for not going to college, for being unhealthy, for being poor, for not being able to afford healthcare and food and housing.鈥� That line hit hard, especially after watching Alex鈥檚 life unfold. The equally engaging complements the piece, making decades-long data feel digestible.

By  The Hechinger Report

A report on Trump administration college admissions proposals, published earlier this month by The Hechinger Report鈥檚 Jon Marcus, may turn out to be one of the most consequential pieces of journalism of the year. 

Marcus looked at admissions data and found that while President Trump鈥檚 scrutiny largely zeroes in on race, his ban on DEI policies could harm men, notably white men, his most loyal demographic.

That鈥檚 because universities for decades have been quietly offering men, who tend to leave high school with fewer skills and lower GPAs, an advantage. While they鈥檝e historically enrolled more women than men, federal data show, they鈥檝e also admitted higher percentages of male applicants. At Baylor University, for instance, 56.8% of males who applied got in, versus. just 47.9% of females.

So while colleges may soon follow U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon鈥檚 exhortation to judge aspiring students 鈥渟olely on their merits, not their race or sex,鈥� the end result could be thousands of young men who don鈥檛 have a place in future freshman classes 鈥� a development that 鈥渄rips with irony,鈥� says one top policy wonk.

By , The Philadelphia Inquirer

Anyone who’s spent much time reading about schools will remember New York City’s “rubber room” 鈥� an archipelago of reassignment centers for hundreds of school employees awaiting arbitration for alleged professional offenses. In January, more than 15 years after journalist Steven Brill first popularized the term, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Kristen Graham gave us an account of Philadelphia’s own rubber room, a way station where some teachers and administrators spend years gathering paychecks and dust. The dispatch offers excellent texture about wasted days in what is effectively a professional prison 鈥� the long-timers graduate into the best seats, while access to extension cords is carefully negotiated 鈥� but many of the details are dispiritingly familiar: Complaints from former rubber room occupants first bubbled into a citywide scandal back in 2011. It increasingly feels like the broader subject of teacher job protections and complaint adjudication is itself akin to the rubber room, a windowless abyss to which all education journalists must eternally return.   

By , NBCU Academy

Alvin Irby, a former first grade teacher, saw an opportunity to improve literacy among Black boys while watching one of his students get a haircut. In 2013, he founded Barbershop Books, providing books for children to read while sitting in the barber鈥檚 chair and training barbers to become mentors to their young clients. Reporter Maya Brown, who was then with NBCU Academy Multimedia, provides a beautiful masterclass in visual storytelling that shows how familiar cultural settings can be used to boost literacy and reading comprehension. In Brown鈥檚 video and text package, we see students getting haircuts and walking away with a stronger motivation to read and barbers who are passionate and committed reading coaches. What excited me most about this story was knowing that Black boys across the country are being seen and supported through Barbershop Books, which is now in 60 cities across the U.S. Brown brilliantly captures how these encounters not only shape the students鈥� hairline but their education journey, too. 

By and , ProPublica 

What if the leaders put in charge of the nation鈥檚 public schools are actually rooting against them? ProPublica analyzed dozens of hours of audio and video footage of public and private speaking events 鈥� as well as writings 鈥� for Education Secretary Linda McMahon鈥檚 appointees finding 鈥渁 recurring theme is the desire to enable more families to leave public schools.鈥� and 鈥檚 story dug deep into these records to paint a vivid picture of the powerful forces that both govern and seek to dismantle public education. Every sentence was impactful and the graphics, while cartoonish and playful, powerfully illustrate each point. The voices that fill the piece were well chosen, each offering an insightful view, to a movement that started well before the current administration. For instance, Maurice T. Cunningham, a retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts provided helpful context, saying parents鈥� rights groups have long aimed 鈥渢o undermine teachers unions, protect their wealthy donors from having to contribute their fair share in taxes to strengthen public schools, and provide profit opportunities through school privatization.鈥� 

By , The Hechinger Report

In 2006, Minnesota passed a law requiring all eighth graders to take Algebra I, a move designed to boost the number of students taking calculus and eventually going into math and science careers. But an investigation by The Hechinger Report suggests it hasn鈥檛 worked as planned. Reporter Steven Yoder analyzed federal data from 2009 to 2017 and found the share of the state鈥檚 students taking calculus rose modestly, from 1.25% to 1.76%. But other states saw far larger gains, and Minnesota dropped from sixth to 10th place among states for calculus enrollment as a share of total enrollment. The state鈥檚 ranking for eighth grade math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress also fell. Yoder鈥檚 research, including visits to classrooms in one Minnesota school district, demonstrates the need for more nuance in determining who should take algebra and when.  

By , The Washington Post

You would know this compulsively readable feature was written by The Washington Post’s Casey Parks even without the byline. Parks is a master at coming to inhabit a small community, chameleon-like, and finding its social glue. In this case, it鈥檚 the lone bookstore in Vermillion, South Dakota, threatened with closure when the state legislature voted to force the 10-year-old daughter of its owners to use the boys’ bathroom at school. Five and a half years ago, Mike and Jen Phelan opened the store on Vermillion鈥檚 Main Street where, red state reputation notwithstanding, most of the brick storefronts sported Pride flags. The locals embraced the couple鈥檚 transgender daughter, with the Vermillion School Board voting in 2021 to allow her to use the girls鈥� bathroom. Which she did without incident until South Dakota鈥檚 GOP statehouse majority passed a bathroom ban this year. As the Phelans packed to move to a New England community where the girl would be affirmed, they prepared to sell the business to Nova and Elias Donstad, a trans couple. 鈥淭hey fell in love reading next to each other most evenings, and they fell for South Dakota the way many transplants did 鈥� accidentally,鈥� writes Parks. The bookworms were desperate to rescue the store, but couldn鈥檛 afford to buy it. As it happens, their neighbors couldn鈥檛 imagine Vermillion without the shop, and raised $22,000 for the couple鈥檚 down payment. 

By , CalMatters

Since The Boston Globe鈥檚 early 2000s reporting exposed widespread childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic church, similar school-based stories have proliferated. This has been made possible as states open 鈥渓ook-back鈥� windows, temporarily lifting the statute of limitations on civil abuse cases. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse I鈥檝e spoken with for my own reporting have shared the power of these windows: they provide an opportunity 鈥� albeit delayed 鈥� for justice. CalMatters Carolyn Jones鈥� reporting on California鈥檚 2020 law 鈥� which provided a three-year window for victims to file claims and made it easier to sue school districts and counties 鈥� stands out because of her ability to skillfully and thoughtfully walk a tough line: emphasizing the very real presence of sexual abuse in schools and the need to hold complicit institutions accountable, while also exposing the unintended financial consequences that can result from these windows. The story raises complex and thorny questions: Who should be held accountable for years-old sexual abuse, especially in cases where the perpetrator is dead and school district personnel have since turned over? And how can we hold the systems that failed these victims responsible, without pulling funding from current students? 

By , NPR

NPR鈥檚 November interview with photographer Melissa Ann Pinney included a trove of incredible pictures that practically jump off the page, err screen. After being granted access to two Chicago schools starting seven years ago, Pinney began taking photos in her 鈥淏ecoming Themselves鈥� series. Pinney captures incredible facial expressions and body language of what she called 鈥渙ften overlooked communities of children and teens in Chicago.鈥� Her ability to play with light and shadows adds a dimension of moodiness that feels right when teens are the subject. Each picture tells its own story with a range of emotions and experiences, including hope, fear, friendship, and love. My favorites include Lizzie Williams in her My Little Pony leggings;  Kho鈥檝ya Greenwood and her brother Coby at a prom celebration; and Jo Gonda and Andrew McDermott at the prom. Each photo is truly a gem 鈥� and Pinney鈥檚 interview adds to the experience.  

By Photographs by , The New York Times 

This year鈥檚 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act offers a stark reminder that we鈥檙e not that far removed from the days when people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were sent away to special public institutions. One of those, the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, Massachusetts 鈥� 鈥渢he Fernald,鈥� as locals call it 鈥� housed John Scott, who had spina bifida and spent most of his 17 years there before his death and burial in an unmarked grave in 1973. In this heartbreaking and masterfully told story, New York Times reporter Sonia Rao describes the journey of Scott鈥檚 brother David, who was just 7 when John died, as he seeks to learn more about his brother and what happened to him. A direct appeal to the governor eventually led him to a rust-colored accordion folder filled with 70 documents about his brother鈥檚 short life. In interviews, a teacher described John as one of her brightest students and 鈥渁 little ray of sunshine.鈥� But she also spoke of what David called 鈥渁trocities鈥� at the school. 鈥淓ighty percent of the stuff I saw there, I wish I could erase from my mind,鈥� she said. That reality is especially poignant given that there were at least 10,000 unmarked graves for people like John in Massachusetts alone 鈥� and the Fernald is one of hundreds of similar institutions for people with disabilities that once dotted the national landscape.

By , Voice of San Diego

Just when you thought you鈥檇 seen every kind of shady behavior around AI and digital learning, along comes Voice of San Diego鈥檚 Jakob McWhinney with an: Would you believe that fraudsters are stealing community college students鈥� identities and enrolling in remote classes to cash in on their financial aid? McWhinney finds that thieves create 鈥渂ot students鈥� that enroll in large online classes and remain just long enough to cash in on state and federal aid. They often turn to generative AI to fake the first few assignments. McWhinney finds that one in four California community college applicants last year was a suspected bot. He offers an to help readers understand exactly how it all works. If the aid theft isn鈥檛 bad enough, he finds that the bots also bump real students from classes 鈥� and wreak havoc around enrollment. He talks to a Southwestern College professor who realizes that, two weeks into last spring鈥檚 semester, just 15 of the 104 students enrolled in her classes and a wait-list, were real. As a result, Southwestern now requires all remote students to show up face-to-face at enrollment time just to prove they鈥檙e real. 

By , NBC News

In a year that will be remembered for intensifying political extremism on the internet and a sharp increase in political violence in the physical world, investigative reporter Tyler Kingkade of NBC News surfaces a compelling tale of what happens when everyday people find themselves in the crosshairs of the culture wars. After Charlie Kirk鈥檚 murder led to government-endorsed revenge against the far-right pundit鈥檚 critics, Kingkade highlighted how a small school district in Arizona was thrust into a campus safety crisis after an online disinformation campaign falsely accused teachers of celebrating his death. The lie, which centered on a costume worn by math teachers, was perpetuated by conservative influencers and Republican lawmakers. The resulting firestorm offers clear evidence that online vitriol can destabilize public safety 鈥� including in schools.

When it comes to public policy, there are rarely any easy solutions, but there is one lever states can pull that will ensure more students have access to math courses that will improve their long-term success in life.  

has shown that a student鈥檚 math achievement has a stronger correlation with future income than gains in reading or even health-related factors. And one of the most important predictors of future math success is a student鈥檚 鈥溾�� 鈥� especially when it comes to Algebra I, a critical gateway course.

While most students take Algebra I or integrated math in ninth grade, many could take it earlier. But there is the catch: Access to Algebra I in middle school, which is considered advanced, is often determined by a variety of metrics including teacher recommendations, parental wishes, grades and GPA.  These factors don鈥檛 always reflect a student鈥檚 true readiness, and they can unintentionally limit access for students who are prepared to take on advanced math before high school.   

Several states 鈥� including Indiana, Nevada North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington 鈥� have taken a different approach. They鈥檝e implemented a policy called 鈥淕uaranteed Access to Advanced Math鈥� that allows students who score highly proficient on state exams to enroll automatically into advanced math pathways that lead to Algebra I in middle school. This policy is grounded in mathematical readiness and shows that it is the best indicator of Algebra I success.听

Beyond ensuring all students who are ready for advanced math have access to those courses, research indicates this policy is opening more doors for vulnerable students who might otherwise be excluded. 

from The E3 Alliance found that before the state adopted its 鈥淕uaranteed Access to Advanced Math Policy,鈥� Black students in Central Texas who scored in the top 20% of their fifth-grade class in math were less likely to be placed in Algebra I by eighth grade than their Black peers who ranked in the 21st through 40th percentile In other words, some of the highest-achieving students were overlooked, not because they weren鈥檛 mathematically ready but because the system wasn鈥檛 designed to guarantee them access. 

For schools that implemented a guaranteed access to advanced math policy, enrollment in Algebra I in middle school rose significantly across all student groups. After changing the architecture of math classes so Algebra I became the default for students with high test scores, top-performing Black and Hispanic students鈥� access to Algebra I in grade 8 moved from 33% and 46% respectively to a whopping . The policy also boosted enrollment for top-performing White and Asian students from 75% and 90% respectively to 83% and 92%.听听

Nationally, remain below pre-pandemic levels, and are testing at levels close to where they were in 2000. If we want to reverse this decline 鈥� and prepare students for the higher-paying jobs and in-demand college majors that depend on advanced math 鈥� we need policies like 鈥淕uaranteed Access to Advanced Math鈥� that raise expectations and expand opportunity.听

Right now, the approach isn鈥檛 consistent across the country.  Only Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and Washington now have statewide guaranteed access policies, with Indiana and Virginia joining during the 2025-26 school year.  

Other strategies have missed the mark. San Francisco delayed Algebra I until ninth grade to 鈥渓evel the playing field鈥� but ended up who were mathematically ready to accelerate. Minnesota required all eighth graders to take Algebra I, which ignored individual student readiness and .听

Guaranteed access offers a better path. It meets students where they are, supports those who need more time and accelerates those who are mathematically ready. It鈥檚 optional, not required, so parents make the final decision whether their students are enrolled in advanced coursework in middle school.  

Under ExcelinEd鈥檚 mathematically ready students would take Algebra I in middle school, and students who need time to build a strong mathematical foundation will take Algebra I in ninth grade. This ensures every student completes Algebra I by the end of ninth grade, taking the course when they are mathematically ready.听

The outcomes are measurable. Students who take more advanced math are more likely to , and . When guaranteed access policies are designed well, they help close by making sure readiness drives opportunity.听

No single policy solution can overcome America鈥檚 math challenges. States also need : high-quality instructional materials, at least 60 minutes a day of math instruction and strong support for teachers. But with guaranteed access as part of that foundation, we can ensure that every student, regardless of where they start, has the opportunity to learn and leverage the advanced math skills that power our workforce.听

Recognizing the stakes, three years ago the school underwent a complete overhaul, and the change has been remarkable. Monte Vista has seen math proficiency rise from to , and English Language Arts proficiency climbed from to on the Smarter Balanced Assessment. 

Here are three ways Monte Vista Elementary changed its trajectory and saw meaningful growth.

First and foremost, change began by reimagining the definition of leadership. Rather than relying on top-down directives, the school adopted a model built on trust, collaboration and shared purpose. The goal was simple but powerful: empower teachers to make instructional decisions and position them as partners in driving improvement.

Teacher leadership teams and data-driven professional learning communities were established, keeping student performance at the center of every conversation. These teams analyzed data, identified gaps and collectively determined next steps, ensuring that professional development and instructional strategies were grounded in real classroom needs.

Teacher leaders visited classrooms across grade levels to identify educators’ strengths, growth areas and opportunities to refine practice. The feedback was shared with the full staff, and teachers collaborated to design targeted action plans 鈥� whether that meant adjusting curriculum, securing supplemental resources or carving out additional planning time.

Peer observations further deepened this culture of collaboration. Model teachers opened their classrooms so colleagues could see effective strategies in action and reflect together on what worked. This kind of teacher-to-teacher learning proved far more impactful than traditional training approaches. It built shared ownership for student success, professional trust and a collective commitment to doing whatever it takes to improve student outcomes.

The second change came about when school leaders confronted an uncomfortable truth: The data didn鈥檛 add up. Internal assessments suggested strong growth, yet students鈥� performance on state tests told a different story. Misalignment between those results and Smarter Balanced scores signaled a deeper issue: Students could complete assignments that relied on following set steps accurately, but they struggled when asked to apply concepts or reason through complex problems.

Classroom instruction needed to mirror the cognitive rigor students would encounter on the Smarter Balanced exam. To bridge that gap, the school implemented a that provided real-time feedback, question-by-question performance data and types of questions designed to prepare students for the deeper thinking required on state assessments.

Teachers could now see in-the-moment how students were reasoning through problems, identify misconceptions immediately and adjust instruction before small gaps became larger ones. The platform鈥檚 dashboards made error analysis part of daily practice, revealing not just what students missed, but why. Educators began using this insight to reteach key concepts, group students flexibly and design interventions that targeted specific learning gaps.

Equally important, the tool reframed assessment as learning. Students were no longer passively tested 鈥� they were actively reflecting on their own thinking. They learned to articulate their reasoning, analyze their mistakes and approach challenging problems with confidence.

Integrating this technology also deepened the staff鈥檚 collective approach to teaching. With clear evidence at their fingertips, teachers collaborated around patterns in student learning, refining both their questions and their approaches to conceptual teaching. Over time, this focus on strategic approaches to problem-solving 鈥� rather than procedural repetition 鈥� became part of the school鈥檚 DNA.

The result was a powerful alignment between classroom learning and assessment performance. Students weren鈥檛 just better test-takers; they were stronger thinkers, capable of transferring understanding across subjects and demonstrating mastery under pressure.

The third component was engaging families through listening. Parents are involved through advisory committees that review data, provide input and offer feedback that is incorporated into achievement plans for English learners, students with special needs and gifted students. 

Over time, the school’s data culture has evolved from one focused on accountability to one centered on celebration 鈥� viewing results as a story of growth rather than a measure of failure. Each initiative is anchored in evidence, collaboration and recognition of progress, no matter the scale, ensuring that insights gained from data reach beyond the classroom. Family literacy and numeracy nights, 鈥渃offee with the principal鈥� meetings and community events all connect data-driven academic progress, behavior and culture into a coherent framework that invites families to see and share in student success.

Monte Vista shows that regardless of students’ backgrounds or starting points, when teachers collaborate around shared goals, incorporate strategic thinking and prioritize family involvement, educational outcomes change. The focus moving forward is to sustain the assessment-driven cycles that have guided progress, deepen student ownership of learning and maintain a commitment to equity, excellence and the shared belief that our students will succeed.

Students who took part in a high-dose math tutoring program developed by in partnership with Oakland Unified School District improved their math scores, according to a recent Northwestern University study.

Children who received at least 10 sessions through MathBOOST saw their scores go up, on average, eight points more on a district assessment compared to those who did not.

MathBOOST, which started in 2023 as an offshoot of an earlier, pandemic-inspired effort around reading, culls tutors from the local community, many of whom do not have prior teaching experience.

Interested parties are trained and most win paying jobs 鈥� plus benefits 鈥� with the school district. Jessica Fyles, The Oakland REACH鈥檚 director of programs, said Northwestern鈥檚 findings validate their recruitment tactics.

鈥淵ou can bring in community members, parents, aunties, cousins, sisters and brothers, to improve results for other people in the district,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is untapped talent, people who have not necessarily been in schools before, but have so much knowledge of community. They know exactly what is at stake 鈥� and are ready to go all in.鈥�

The Oakland REACH founder and CEO Lakisha Young said the model proves, too, that the people closest to the problem are the best suited to solve it. Unlike school leaders, or even teachers, parents are here to stay, she said.

鈥淪o they need to have more tools, agency and power to help close the achievement gap,鈥� said Young, whose tutoring initiative this year expanded to a Fairview, Oregon, public school district and a Denver charter school network.

Meanwhile, Oakland Unified is in the process of taking over the MathBOOST program and is committed to its growth, said Alicia Arenas, the district鈥檚 executive director of elementary instruction.

鈥淭here is something special and impactful when students see members of their community working at their school sites,鈥� she said.

Go Deeper:

• Tutoring Program in Oakland, Calif. Recruits Parents and Neighbors to Teach Math
  
• A Billionaire鈥檚 Gift Expands Reach of 鈥楿napologetic鈥� Oakland Parent鈥檚 Group
  
• Oakland Study Finds Parents as Effective as Teachers in Tutoring Young Readers
  

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These are the telltale signs of math anxiety creeping back into my classroom, and it鈥檚 heartbreakingly common. Between experience a decline in math skills over the summer across elementary grades. By the time they reach fifth grade, students can lag behind their peers by two to three years.

That means students are missing out on crucial math skills that form the foundation for everything that comes later. As many teachers can attest, math remains one of the hardest subjects to teach because the basics aren鈥檛 always as black and white as they seem.

I鈥檝e had to look for new ways to break down those barriers and ease the pressure. That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e leaned into game-based learning. It takes something stressful and makes it approachable. In teaching math, that makes all the difference.

I first brought games into my math block because I wanted to try something different. A student suggested we review a concept with a math game he had used, and I decided to give it a shot.

There are plenty of games: Math Reveal, Quizizz and Coolmath among them. In my class we use Prodigy, which allows students to play as wizards exploring different fantasy worlds. They progress through the game by engaging in math-based quests and battles, answering a series of math questions to power spells, cast attacks or heal their wizard. Behind the scenes, the platform analyzes each student鈥檚 strengths and gaps, then adjusts and tailors content to the appropriate learning level.

The benefits were clear almost immediately, and the atmosphere in my classroom shifted. Kids who normally avoided eye contact were leaning in, laughing and actually asking to do math. It was a small change at first, but it began breaking down the anxiety that had been holding students back.

Their anxiety turns into curiosity, and their avoidance shifts into active participation. Students knew they could make mistakes, try again and keep moving without the fear of failure they often carried into traditional lessons.

Over time, I鈥檝e learned that these games weren鈥檛 just fun. They were powerful teaching tools. Game-based learning platforms helped students review after new lessons and revisit older concepts to keep their skills sharp. As a result, when we moved on to fractions or multi-step problems, they weren鈥檛 burdened by forgotten fundamentals.

Now, I incorporate game-based learning throughout my curriculum. I may introduce a new lesson with a quick round or have students partner up to practice and reinforce a concept. Before a test, I can assign relevant game modules that give students a low-stakes way to practice and prepare.

I noticed students catching up quicker than in previous years. At the start of one school year, I had eight students who were pulled out of my class for extra math help. By the end of the year, only two needed the extra support.

And let’s be honest: These tools have helped me, too. Teaching math can be overwhelming, especially with constant pressure to get every student up to speed and prepared for benchmark tests.

Game-based learning became a comforting resource for me because it offers new ways to personalize lessons and celebrate small wins. As students play, I can track their learning in real time to see which skills they鈥檝e mastered, where they鈥檙e struggling and how their performance is shifting over time. Students can move at their own pace now, and I can step into the role of guide rather than taskmaster.

Like any classroom tool, game-based learning works best when you use it with intention. Over the years, I鈥檝e learned some strategies that make it more than just 鈥減lay time.鈥�

• Play along: When I first started using game-based learning platforms, I didn鈥檛 fully understand how each game worked or the way they built in rewards, challenges, and storylines that keep kids engaged.
  
  That changed when I created my own character and began playing alongside my students. Suddenly, when a student shouted, 鈥淚 just beat the Puppet Master!鈥� I knew exactly what that meant, and I could celebrate and learn with them.
  
  By experiencing the games myself, I learned how to implement them in the classroom. I could see firsthand how to weave them into lessons, when to use them for review versus pre-teaching, and how to keep the fun from becoming a distraction.

• Assign with purpose: I don鈥檛 just let students log in and click around. I strategically tie games to the key concepts we鈥檙e learning that week or use them to revisit skills. For example, I might assign a short warm-up where they tackle problems from earlier in the year so they鈥檙e never losing touch with old material. Cyclical practice helps build long-term retention while lowering the stress of new concepts.

• Differentiate lessons: One of the biggest wins with game-based learning is how easy it is to differentiate and personalize learning. In any classroom, I have students at wildly different levels: Some need extra review, others are ready to race ahead. With games, I can assign work that meets each child where they are.
  
  That flexibility saves me time, but more importantly, it saves students from unnecessary stress. They can master concepts step by step, and I can gently move them up without overwhelming them.

When I first introduced game-based learning, I didn鈥檛 know what to expect. It felt like one more thing to manage. But I let students guide me, and the results spoke for themselves. They were more engaged, less anxious and more willing to try.

For teachers who are unsure, my advice is simple: Give it a chance. Watch your students light up when math feels less like a hurdle and more like a game. For me, the greatest reward has been seeing kids who once dreaded math start to relax, build confidence and move from 鈥淚 can鈥檛 do this鈥� to 鈥淐an we play again?鈥�

Game-based learning isn鈥檛 about replacing rigor. It鈥檚 about sparking curiosity, reducing fear and creating the kind of engagement that fosters a genuine love of learning. Most of all, it reminds us 鈥� and our students 鈥� that math can, and should, be fun.

SPRINGFIELD 鈥� The first school report card issued under Illinois鈥� new, revised scoring system shows higher student proficiency rates in English language arts and math, but continuing disparities between racial, ethnic and economic subgroups.

The 2025 report card shows more than half of all students (52.4%) scored proficient or better on English language arts exams, but only 38% met grade-level proficiency standards for math.

Those numbers are based on standardized tests that students from third grade through high school took in the spring 2025 semester. They reflect a the Illinois State Board of Education approved in August that established new benchmarks for proficiency.

鈥淚llinois’ previous benchmarks for English language arts proficiency were the most restrictive in the country, resulting in the mislabeling of high achieving college ready students as being not proficient,鈥� State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said during a media briefing on the report card.

鈥淭his meant that the students who were succeeding in school passing advanced placement and dual credit courses, taking leadership roles within their schools, enrolling in college and still being labeled as not proficient on our state assessment.鈥�

The change in scoring systems was expected to result in more students being classified as proficient in reading and math, but fewer in science. And that is what happened.

In 2024, only 39% of students who were tested scored proficient or better in English language arts and only 28% did so in math. On the science assessment, which is given to fifth and eighth grade students, the proficiency rate dropped from 53.1% in 2024 to 44.6% in 2025.

But Sanders said the 2025 scores cannot really be compared with previous years because the year-over-year changes are mostly the result of the new scoring system, not a change in how well students performed. However, he also said there were other indications that student performance did improve in 2025.

鈥淭hey would have increased if we had kept the same cut scores,鈥� he said. 鈥淗owever, we changed the cut scores, so we can’t tell you what they would have been. But we know they would have improved.鈥�

Performance gaps

All states have issued annual report cards since the 2002-2003 school year when they were mandated by the federal law known as the . They were intended as a tool to hold districts and individual schools accountable for bringing all students up to a level of proficiency in reading and math, and for improving their high school graduation rates.

That also meant closing the persistent achievement gaps between racial, ethnic and economic subgroups of students.

But the law also gave states flexibility to establish their own standards for proficiency and to develop their own tests to measure student performance.

In Illinois, most students in grades 3-8 take the for English language arts and Math. Students in fifth and eighth grade also take the Illinois Science Assessment.

At the , ninth and 10th grade students take the PreACT Secure exam. High school juniors and some high school seniors take the ACT with Writing, which includes tests in English, math, reading, science and writing.

In Illinois, the 2025 report card shows there are still wide gaps in proficiency rates between white, Black and Hispanic students in both English language arts and math.

Among fourth graders, for example, 55.4% of white students scored proficient or better in math, compared to 28.8% of Hispanic students and 17.4% of Black students.

Among eighth graders, two-thirds of white students (66.6%) scored proficient compared to just over one-third (36.7%) for Black students and 45.4% for Hispanic students.

The 2025 report card also includes data for the first time for a newly categorized ethnic group 鈥� 鈥淢iddle Eastern or North African,鈥� abbreviated MENA in the data files.

Among MENA students, the 2025 report card showed a 53.9% proficiency rate in fourth-grade English language arts and a 42.3% proficiency rate for eighth-grade math.

Graduation rates

One area where Illinois has made progress in closing achievement gaps is high school graduation rates.

In 2025, the statewide four-year graduation rate reached a 15-year high of 89%. That was up 3.4 percentage points from a decade earlier. But the rate was also up across all demographic groups, and the gap between those groups narrowed significantly.

In 2015, the four-year graduation rate among white students was 90.2%. That was 14.7 points higher than the Black graduation rate, and 9.5 points higher than the rate for Hispanic students.

In 2025, the graduation rate for white students inched up to 92.4%, but it also rose among other groups. As a result, the gap between white and Black students narrowed to just 9.5 percentage points, and the gap between white students and Hispanic students narrowed to just 6 points.

Sanders gave credit for much of that improvement to the Evidence-Based Funding formula, which lawmakers passed in 2017. That law called for adding at least $300 million per year in new funding each year to the state鈥檚 K-12 education budget.

Since then, Sanders said, Illinois has added more than $3 billion in EBF funding to the budget, with the bulk of that money targeted toward the least-funded school and earmarked for things specifically designed to improve student outcomes.

鈥淒istricts have used these resources to expand interventions like summer school,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’ve added mentoring, credit recovery courses, transition programs for English and math, and they broadened access to career and technical education, advanced placement, international baccalaureate and dual credit. These opportunities keep students engaged and on track for success.鈥�

Other findings

The report card also contains data on several other measures of the state鈥檚 education system.

The number of full-time equivalent teachers working in Illinois reached a new high of 137,899, an increase of 687 from the previous year. The teaching workforce also became slightly more racially diverse, with 21.1% of them classified as nonwhite, compared to 20.4% last year. But total student enrollment decreased slightly to just under 1.85 million.

Chronic absenteeism declined for the third consecutive year in 2025 but still remained high at 25.4%. Students are classified as chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the days in a school year, regardless of whether the absence is excused or not. The rate shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a peak of 29.8% in 2022.

is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

When they first walk into Match Charter Public High School, students confront a purely physical challenge: its steep marble staircase.

Erected in 1917 as part of a three-story auto accessory and, it frames the main hall of Match, one of Boston鈥檚 鈥� and the nation鈥檚 鈥� longest-surviving charter high schools. With its wide, sweeping opening and challenging rise, it offers an implicit message, students and teachers say: 鈥淵ou must demonstrate a basic level of dedication simply to get to class on time. Come on in. This will be hard, but stick with it.鈥�

鈥淚t’s just a thing that happens for everyone who comes into the school,鈥� said senior Caleb Tolento. 鈥淵ou have to get used to the stairs eventually, because you have to go through all the different levels of the school.鈥� 

But alongside the challenge is an unprecedented level of support, students say. 

Founded in 2000 as the uppercase MATCH: Media and Technology Charter High School, after 25 years it remains stubbornly small and intensely personalized, offering a stunning contrast to how many other charter organizations have developed: Each morning, just 266 students from all over Boston 鈥� many of whom ride the bus or subway for more than an hour 鈥� crowd into the trim three-story edifice.

Once inside, students enjoy a college-prep curriculum and four years of classes in a place that both pushes and nurtures them. 

鈥淵ou grow up with this community of people that stay with you,鈥� said alumnus Jeffrey Vittini, who graduated in 2023 and now attends Northeastern University. 鈥淵ou get to know everyone.鈥�

In 25 years, Match, which also operates an elementary and middle school elsewhere in the city, has resisted expanding to other neighborhoods, let alone other cities. For the past 22 years, it has occupied the same space that until 2001 housed Ellis the Rim Man. The front corner of the building, facing bustling Commonwealth Avenue, once housed a mobile phone store 鈥� it鈥檚 now the school鈥檚 college counseling office, but everyone still calls it 鈥渢he cell store.鈥�

Match has kept itself intentionally small, even as a handful of innovations piloted there have spun off.

鈥淲e’re not a company,鈥� said Jay Galbraith, the network鈥檚 managing director of academics, who offered something approaching Match鈥檚 credo: 鈥淚f we have a good idea that works, share it.鈥�

Since its founding, Match has seen its staffers found , a curriculum company, the coaching nonprofit and , a nonprofit tutoring provider. But it hasn鈥檛 expanded its schools portfolio, Galbraith said, 鈥渆specially if that would come at the cost of not serving our kids as effectively.鈥�

With just three schools, he said, 鈥淲e can make faster moves,鈥� changing curriculum, services or whatever needs tweaking. 鈥淲e’re not trying to steer a ship of 100,000 kids.鈥�

This fall, however, political realities are threatening Match鈥檚 model, which for a quarter-century has been built partly on intensive tutoring for nearly every student.

What comes after 鈥榥o-excuses鈥�?

Like many charter schools that serve predominantly low-income students of color, Match has spent the years since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests searching for a balance between its no-excuses roots and what many consider a more humane pedagogical and disciplinary approach. 

That, several educators and students said, is a work in progress.

鈥淲hat we’ve given up is high behavioral expectations that lead to exclusion,鈥� said principal in residence Jermaine Hamilton. So while detention is back on the menu after administrators nixed it during the pandemic, out-of-school suspension isn鈥檛 coming back. 鈥淲e don’t believe excluding our students sends the message that they are welcomed here, that we want them here, and that they are allowed to make mistakes and grow here.鈥�

In the bargain, the school鈥檚 disciplinary team has grown from one 鈥渄ean of school culture鈥� to two.

In interviews, students welcomed the shift, which also meant the end of school uniforms in favor of a moderate dress code. 

Nearly all stressed that close-knit relationships make the school tick.

鈥淭hey started to realize that the community they’re building up, that’s the biggest aspect of Match that makes it what it is,鈥� said Tolento, 17. 鈥淎nd they’re kind of leaning more into that, especially in the high school.鈥�

In the absence of no-excuses discipline, Match has doubled down on personal relationships and the importance of teachers simply getting to know students. 

鈥淔or a time, we replaced 鈥榥o excuses鈥� with 鈥榓ll the excuses,鈥欌�� said history teacher Andrew Jarboe. While that was challenging for teachers, he said, 鈥淣ow I feel we’re in a place where we’re sort of correcting and finding the balance.鈥� 

Among the interventions that remain: intensive therapy sessions, extensive academic tutoring and college counseling services that would make a private school headmaster blush.

Nearly half of Match students sit for one-on-one therapy sessions of up to 50 minutes weekly, said Kerry Sonia, one of the school鈥檚 four full-time counselors. That reality creates 鈥渁 culture around counseling where students are super-comfortable with us,鈥� she said. Match students 鈥渓ove talking about their feelings, which is nice.鈥�

A Match alumna herself, Sonia attended both the middle and high school, where she was often the only white student in the building. She recalled that as a student, she often felt that adults, in their attempts to get students to sit up straight, track speakers鈥� eyes and not dawdle in the restrooms, were quietly offering a kind of implicit character education. But to students it often felt more like behavioral conditioning.

Years later, she sees that approach as dehumanizing. 鈥淚f someone was trying to track how long it took me to go to the bathroom every day, that would also annoy me.鈥�

The pivot, she said, should be more properly understood as going from 鈥渘o excuses鈥� to 鈥渉igh expectations and high supports,鈥� emphasizing both more student accountability and self-advocacy.

So even as the school has followed the lead of many high schools in instituting a cell phone ban, seniors may keep phones this fall. It鈥檚 a bid to give them a measure of control before they take off for college and careers.

Jarboe, for his part, is delighted. 鈥淭his is my first year in more than a decade where the cell phone is not ubiquitous,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y first week of teaching this year was actually quite remarkable. Students were laughing at my jokes again. They were paying attention again.鈥�

He added, 鈥淚t feels like I’ve got my students back.鈥�

Tutoring takes a hit

One recent morning, tutor Saul Escorza, a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate, sat at a high-top table on the school鈥檚 open-concept third floor, as a series of students approached for extra help with geometry. In his first five weeks, he has noticed that many students struggle to keep up with classes that simply move too quickly. 

鈥淚f you’re in an environment where they give you a day or two for the concept and then move on, but you need more, you’ll start to fall behind,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o for me, it’s just trying to figure out where they started falling back.鈥�

Many students are capable of learning math but struggle to recall the basics. 鈥淪o it’s just making sure that their foundation is solid, and then hopefully from there it becomes much more easy for them to grasp the higher-level things.鈥�

If Match is known for anything, it鈥檚 this. It was one of the first charter schools to pilot intensive tutoring for nearly all students. The policy far predated the COVID-19 pandemic 鈥� a recent book on the topic called Match 鈥減atient zero for tutoring at scale.鈥�

The program began as a partnership with MIT students, who earned federal work-study salaries to tutor Match students a few times a week. By 2003, offered every student two hours of tutoring daily.

But this fall, Escorza is lucky to be here. Federal funding cuts have forced the school to trim its tutoring 鈥� each fall, it typically opens its doors with an eye-watering 20-person, full-time tutoring staff. Due to the Trump administration鈥檚 nearly $400 million in cuts to the program, Match has had to scale back to just nine part-time tutors.

About 30 Match sophomores 鈥� somewhere between 40% and 50% of the class 鈥� now get geometry tutoring every day. A few tutors work on life skills for students who need them, while others help students catch up on missed classwork.

Devin Baker, who directs Match Corps, said she鈥檚 working on ways to bring it back to its former glory, perhaps by hiring local graduate students. Most years, virtually every freshman and sophomore sits with a personal tutor several times a week. That in particular has long helped Match stand out, since for many students it can mean the difference between taking basic coursework and tackling Advanced Placement courses.

Tutors attend meetings with students鈥� classroom teachers and special ed staff and are 鈥渦niquely positioned to get to know the kids and advocate for the kids on a level that classroom teachers just can’t get to in the same way,鈥� said Baker, herself a tutor as a member of City Year, the AmeriCorps program that until this fall underwrote Match鈥檚 tutoring.

Several teachers said the loss of funding carries bigger stakes than just a smaller tutoring corps. It鈥檚 鈥渢he foundation and the fabric that weave this place together,鈥� said Kyle Winslow Smith, Match鈥檚 director of curriculum and instruction for the humanities.

He and colleagues have relied on tutors not just for boosting kids鈥� math skills but for helping students with executive functioning and planning. It鈥檚 also a key pipeline for Match teachers 鈥� more than a dozen current teachers started as tutors.

The AmeriCorps funding cuts, Smith said, are devastating to a community like Match. 鈥淏ecause Title I charter schools and AmeriCorps serve communities of color, it is a systematically racist policy that they’re imposing upon these schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it seems like it’s an intentional move to deconstruct a system that is helping communities of color.鈥�

鈥業t鈥檚 so easy to get help鈥� 

Asked what they like most about the school, virtually all students say some variation of this: The place is crawling with adults offering assistance.

鈥淭he school being so small, it’s so easy to get help,鈥� said senior Brianny Pimentel, 17, who prefers to be called by her nickname: 鈥淶ero.鈥�

鈥淚f you really need help with homework, or if you really need time to finish a test or a quiz, it’s so easy to look for that help,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here’s so many teachers and tutors around that can help you.鈥�

Between classes, virtually the entire staff emerges from classrooms to shoo students to their next period. After the last bell, many students stay to socialize, get extra help and chat with teachers, said Devon Burroughs, the school鈥檚 vice principal. 鈥淭hey’re just hanging out with each other in the lobby, or they’re sitting with a teacher and just talking about life 鈥� not necessarily academics, but just to be around a person. Sometimes we have to [say], 鈥極.K., it’s 5:40.鈥欌�� Even then, he said, students linger in the park near the school, reluctant to go home.

Once they get to junior year, Match students gain access to a five-person college counseling staff that rivals those of elite private schools. Each counselor鈥檚 case load typically ranges from just 15 to 20 students, and counselors often help families, tax returns in hand, fill out the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid. 

Over four years at Match, the typical student receives about 400 hours of college counseling, the school says. Most end up visiting more than 20 colleges.

That support typically pays off: 92% of the class of 2025 attend college, with 83% enrolled in four-year institutions. About 50% of alumni who attend college complete a degree within six years. That鈥檚 high compared to other charter organizations such as KIPP, which boasts a . 

Senior Tolento, who first attended Match in sixth grade, has his eyes on 鈥渁 lot of high-end schools,鈥� including Cornell University. Match, he said, is 鈥渁dvocating for me to keep pushing myself upward.鈥�

This spring, his classmate Pimentel will be the third in her family to graduate from Match. Though admission is by random lottery, students with siblings already attending get a leg up. She鈥檚 looking at studying business or early childhood education, possibly at Framingham State University.

鈥淪ince Day One, since you’re a freshman, they immediately are like, 鈥楶ut in all your effort,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hey’re really adamant about you trying the hardest you can to accelerate every year, and this year specifically they’re really putting in the work to help us.鈥�

Like many teachers, I see my fifth graders return from summer break with shaky confidence that can make a multiplication or fraction review feel overwhelming. On average, students lose of their school-year gains in math from the 鈥渟ummer slide,鈥� which adds stress for kids and puts extra pressure on teachers to rebuild foundational skills.

While there鈥檚 no single fix, I鈥檝e found one shift makes a real difference in helping students re-engage with math: treating it like a team sport. Last spring, that approach even helped our Title I school, Sinking Springs Elementary in York, Pennsylvania, win the world鈥檚 largest math competition, the .

We outscored 4.2 million students across 70,000 schools, earning a $100,000 tech grant. We鈥檙e using that money to purchase larger flat screen TVs for all classrooms that allow students to follow along from their seats, an enhanced projector and sound system for events in our cafeteria, and gaming devices like Nintendo Switches and VR headsets for students to check out as a reward.

As you can see in this , my students were rightfully proud of their win 鈥� and, believe me, they worked hard for it. But what mattered more was the strategy and teamwork that made us champions. Encouragement, consistent practice and collaboration toward a common goal can reshape how students learn 鈥� and that鈥檚 why I prioritize team activities and competition in my math lessons all year long.

Of course, teachers may worry that competition will create pressure or leave struggling students behind, especially in math classes where skills vary widely and students need individual support. But that鈥檚 why a 鈥渢eam sport鈥� approach works. When students collaborate toward a common goal, they鈥檙e motivated by how each person鈥檚 effort brings the group closer to a victory.

I saw that firsthand when my class competed in the Prodigy National Cup. During the competition, our entire school of fourth through sixth graders competed against other qualifying elementary and middle schools nationwide to answer as many math questions correctly as possible.

Each correct answer, no matter the grade level or difficulty, counted equally toward our school鈥檚 total points, which meant every student had an opportunity to contribute. Our students correctly answered a total of nearly 730,000 standards-aligned math questions during the two-week period!

For students who may experience fear or anxiety in math class, this model was incredibly motivating. Instead of racing against a timer, they could work on problems tailored to their level at their own pace and see how their participation helped us climb the leaderboard.

Almost immediately, the classroom energy changed. Students who usually complained about math practice were suddenly asking to tackle extra problems in class and for homework. Just as importantly, students were raising their hands with questions more often because they wanted to help our school succeed.

Engagement soared when my class saw how their hard work contributed to something bigger than themselves. However, when kids are involved in some friendly competition, it鈥檚 important to set the stage for a positive, low-stress experience. I鈥檝e seen that when students feel truly supported, they鈥檙e empowered to take risks and stretch beyond their comfort zones in math class.

Here are three strategies that can help make math challenges motivating and meaningful for all learners:

1. Encourage healthy, respectful competition

In any competition, good sportsmanship is essential. Before starting a math challenge, always set expectations with the class: We respect our opponents, celebrate effort and focus on learning just as much as winning.

At my school, we love organizing grade-level competitions. My class might challenge our neighbors to see who can review the most multi-digit multiplication problems in a week. While rooting for our team is part of the fun, we still remember the bigger picture. Every practice problem helps our grade grow together and become stronger mathematicians.

With this mindset, a multiplication challenge can also be a social-emotional lesson. Students strengthen key math skills and model how to support and respect their peers in the process.

2.听Show the importance of practice

Students often need reminders that consistent practice will help them improve. By turning math lessons into team challenges, practice becomes our daily 鈥渢raining.鈥�

For example, compare your class to a professional sports team. Those athletes don鈥檛 just start training a few weeks before the championship game. They train throughout the year and often go back to the basics to sharpen their skills. Math works the same way. In the first few weeks of school, we may need to warm up with a review of fourth-grade concepts before starting new material.

A huge benefit of game-based learning platforms is that students can track their progress independently as they practice. Each milestone gives them a boost of confidence to keep trying even when problems get more difficult.

3. Celebrate the victories

Don鈥檛 forget to remind students that persistence pays off. When math is a team sport, every person gets to share in the victory.

In my classroom, we celebrate the small wins by clapping for our classmates. If we鈥檙e competing with our neighboring class to practice fractions, we鈥檒l cheer for a student who persevered through a tough problem or mastered a new skill. By recognizing those moments, students remember that a win for one person is also a win for our classroom community.

At the same time, incentives help keep motivation high. It can be as simple as the class earning extra choice time for answering a certain number of math questions. The rewards don鈥檛 have to be elaborate; they just need to build excitement and anticipation for the next challenge.

Many students carry insecurities about their math abilities, and that self-doubt can hold them back. When they see themselves as part of a team, something shifts. Instead of fearing potential mistakes, they focus on helping the group succeed.

From my experience, students who feel inspired by a challenge 鈥� and encouraged by their class community 鈥� will step up with a can-do attitude. In the process, they gain confidence in themselves as growing mathematicians, ready to take on the next problem.

Whether it鈥檚 a national competition or just another Tuesday math block, a shared goal brings new energy into the classroom. Set a class target, and you鈥檒l be shocked at how quickly your most hesitant student raises their hand to ask for five more minutes of practice.

Despite these facts, a study I co-authored on schools in high schools in the New England region found that don鈥檛 offer AP statistics. I was curious about what appears to be a disconnect between math pathway standards and math in practical applications. And further, what might be done to create more rigorous math opportunities for a wider number of students?

I collaborated with University of Texas researchers on another that followed millions of students in the state. We found that those who pursued calculus were more likely to major in science, technology, engineering or math and enroll in highly selective colleges. For classmates who were not pursuing STEM majors, taking calculus had minimal long-term effects on their future careers. There were no significant differences in degree completion or wages for those who studied calculus and those who took other math classes.

Our research doesn鈥檛 dispute that students who take calculus often go on to earn higher salaries than those who don’t, but the cause and effect is more nuanced. Calculus itself doesn鈥檛 necessarily lead to bigger paychecks; rather, students aiming for high-earning fields like engineering or computer science tend to take it because those careers require it. 

In fact, based on our research, after accounting for students’ academic preparation, those who took statistics earn just as much money in the long run as those who studied calculus. This further supports the conclusion that while calculus remains essential for STEM-bound students, it shouldn鈥檛 be the only marker of rigor. 

Forcing students not planning a STEM career to take calculus because it鈥檚 the only rigorous math option may discourage and frustrate them, while a different math course such as statistics might better prepare them for high-earning careers in other fields that better align with their interests. For example, statistics and data science courses can build skills that are applicable in areas ranging from business to public policy, health care and the social sciences.

That鈥檚 why high schools and colleges should offer 鈥� and recognize 鈥� multiple rigorous math options. Rather than making calculus the only advanced math class, schools should provide choices that match students’ aspirations, and colleges should value these on par with AP calculus.

What should matter is giving every student the opportunity to tackle challenging, relevant subjects such as calculus, statistics, computer science and data science. Those courses should be backed by robust standards, curricula and assessments, like those established by the AP program, to ensure the courses will be recognized by colleges  for their academic rigor that is also aligned with students鈥� career paths. 

The AP program is widely recognized and accepted by colleges for its standards, curriculum and comprehensive end-of-course exam. Districts that offer a wider variety of AP math options will provide more students with access to rigorous relevant math.Other emerging options, like AP computer science courses or perhaps a future AP data science class, could also serve as rigorous alternatives, giving students a choice of advanced math that connects directly to their aspirations.

In the longer term, state education officials wishing to develop data science or quantitative computing opportunities would be wise to follow the AP recipe that has made the program the gold standard for high school education. And high schools should make AP statistics itself more broadly available, especially for those considering non-STEM majors. More students are likely to discover relevance and career opportunities in collecting, analyzing, visualizing and interpreting data. It鈥檚 time to build and strengthen high school math pathways that better reflect that reality.

For a year and a half in 2023 and 2024, Cohen traversed the country, interviewing educators, researchers and policymakers and observing tutoring sessions in seven states and the District of Columbia. 

Now the vice president of policy for the education group , Cohen shares her findings in a new book, out today from Harvard Education Press: .

She explores 鈥渢he accidental experiment鈥� that took place across American schools starting in 2020, as researchers figured out the principles of what was originally called 鈥渉igh-dosage tutoring鈥� but has come to be known as 鈥渉igh-impact tutoring.鈥� 

Its four pillars, according to Stanford鈥檚 : 

1. It must take place at least three days a week.
2. Sessions last at least 30 minutes.
3. Sessions are with a consistent tutor.
4. There are no more than four students working in a group. 

The moment couldn鈥檛 have been more tailor-made for such a comprehensive intervention. In the course of just a few months, federal aid to K鈥�12 schools more than tripled, with districts slated to get at least 90% of the new funding. Federal rules eventually dictated that they reserve at least 20% of the largest pot of money to treat pandemic-related learning loss. Tutoring, Cohen writes, 鈥渜uickly became the watchword of how learning loss should be addressed.鈥�

Cohen interviewed everyone from Stanford scholar Susanna Loeb, whose research helped lay the groundwork for the movement, to Katreena Shelby, a Washington, D.C., middle school principal who somehow found a way to get a tutor for every student in her school.

Ahead of the book鈥檚 publication, Cohen spoke to 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo about her findings and her belief that, despite the bleakness of the past few years, educators 鈥渨ant to do good things for kids, and they’re willing to try new things.鈥�

Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

I want to start with a kind of impertinent question: I believe it was former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett who said that many schools serve up what he called a “14-egg omelet.” Have you heard of this?

No, but I like where it’s going.

When what they’re doing doesn’t work, they just do more of the same. I’m guessing you would say that high-impact tutoring does not resemble one of Bennett’s lousy omelets. Are schools truly doing something different?

It’s, of course, impossible to answer universally for every school and every tutoring program. And there have been tutoring programs that haven’t been super additive. But at this point, the schools that have implemented high-impact or high-dosage tutoring within the definition of what that is 鈥� and to the gold standard that the evidence suggests 鈥� are offering something different. Whether that’s home fries on the side of the omelet or a salad, you can choose, but it’s something else.

You write that a couple of places have done better jobs than others. New Mexico, for instance, seems to have made a few missteps. What’s the difference between places where tutoring is working and where it’s not?

Where tutoring works the best is where it is a strategy in service of a broader goal. Sometimes in education we make the mistake of thinking the thing is the goal, and tutoring isn’t the goal. I don’t want people to do tutoring just to do tutoring. I care if kids are learning in school, and so the places that are doing a great job with tutoring, first of all, are doing tutoring in service of the goal of improving learning, and that means it’s often connected to lots of other pieces around instruction, curriculum and all sorts of other things. One is being strategic. Two is recognizing that to do this kind of program well requires a lot of effort on the implementation side, and being willing to put in the resources necessary. Literally assigning someone at a district or at a school a role of high-impact tutoring manager 鈥� who a significant part, if not all, of their job for some period of time is making sure this program is working 鈥� is another hallmark of places that have had success as well.

When you were in Louisiana, you looked at this Teach for America Ignite program, and you mention that it’s become a strong pipeline for TFA Fellows and, by extension, teachers. Should we look at tutoring as a pipeline for teaching?

I think so. We have an evergreen population of college students, even if fewer than we used to. We’re always going to have some amount of college students. And what’s generally true about those young adults is that a lot of them are looking for ways to make some money, and a lot of them are not sure what they really want to do with their lives. So one of the interesting things 鈥� and the TFA program highlights this 鈥� is that when you create opportunities for young people to be involved in education, as a tutor, for example, they start thinking, “Oh, maybe this is a career that I would want to do.”

I like to joke that teacher unions have done such a great PR job that they’ve actually convinced people that they shouldn’t want to be teachers. They’ve convinced the American public that teachers don’t get paid enough and aren’t respected. And if you look at parent polls, more than 50% of parents in this country say they to become teachers.

But what we’ve learned from some of the tutoring with college students is that when you actually give them a positive framework to enter the education space and interact with young people in this way, they start thinking about it. It’s not just the TFA program 鈥� I would say also the in charter schools in New York and New Jersey, that also has had partnerships in D.C. and other places. Similarly, they’re using college grads through the AmeriCorps program. A lot of those young people end up sticking around and becoming teachers.

At a school in D.C., you met Delilah, who you say could easily pass for a high school student, but she’s doing this great job leading students on a lesson about Homer鈥檚 Odyssey. It made me think that tutoring could blur the boundaries between who is an effective teacher 鈥� and how we find them. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I don’t know about 鈥渂lur,鈥� but it certainly broadens how we might think about who can play effective roles in the learning of young people. And we see that in a few places. This isn’t in the book, but in Chattanooga, Tenn., they had a that started during COVID where they actually hired high school students to tutor elementary school students. And those high schoolers, I believe, were getting school credit, and were getting paid. I spoke with this young woman, and she would literally walk down the hill from her high school to the elementary school, where she worked as a tutor and got real-world experience. She said she felt like she was treated like one of the staff at the school, and it was an incredibly positive experience. She is now graduating high school a year early and enrolling at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville to become a teacher, and she’s the first person in her family to go to college. 

The other thing that I did write about is the way that education schools are rethinking the role of tutoring in teacher prep. We have all these college kids or young adults that we might want to expose to education. But then what about those who already think they want to work in education? The dean of the ed school of Bowling Green State University, which is the biggest teacher prep program in Ohio, has always been committed to giving kids as much field work and experience as possible, because she says, “I want to make sure before I send these students as graduates into classrooms, that that’s really where they want to be. How many different kinds of opportunities can we give people who think they want to be teachers to actually play teacher-like roles?” And so they’ve really leaned into tutoring. They think that the experience of me, Liz, trying to really just help Greg master how to read or how to do third-grade math is going to help me in the classroom, but also gives me more touch points to make sure this is really what I want to do. 

Another way to think about that: A principal in Alexandria, Va., told me, “The one thing I’m always looking for is how do I get my kids more time? More time learning. How do we give our kids more time?” And it wasn’t just him that I heard this from. This is a repeated theme that school leaders and teachers feel: Tutoring helps them add time. Time on task, quality learning time. And time is often the most precious resource we have in education, and that is how a lot of folks are thinking about this.

One of the things you say is that if tutoring is woven into a school culture, the relationship that the student has with the tutor can be this “fulcrum that changes the student’s trajectory.” You’re imagining that tutoring could really transform schools at a very basic level, that the student-tutor relationship is transformative for a lot of kids.

That’s right. What made this story so powerful was the power of the relationships. To me, the big takeaway is that young people are really hungry for meaningful adult relationships in ways beyond what even the best classroom teacher can possibly give to a full classroom of kids. Even when I interviewed some of those TFA college tutors, the thing they would tell me that surprised them about their experience was that kids were willing to open up to them even after just building a relationship on a Zoom call and doing tutoring. And I don’t know if it’s because after the pandemic there had been so much disconnect and isolation that people were hungry for a reconnect, or if it’s just a truism of human nature that we like to have relationships with other humans.

There’s something really powerful about bringing more people in to interact with young people in education, in an educational setting, in a variety of ways. And that’s why, even though generally I’m pretty bullish on tech 鈥� I don’t write in the book at all about AI because the stuff’s being built too rapidly 鈥� while tech can inform and empower, what’s happened, at least in the last five years, is really a story about human relationships, and it’s worth telling in a time when people feel more separate.

Near the end of the book, you talk about one way to make tutoring work on a large scale, something called outcomes-based contracting. Would you like to talk about that?

I wrote a whole chapter about contracting, and tried to make it so you wouldn’t fall asleep while you read it. Partly why I dedicated so much space to it is because I actually think that we spend a lot of money on education in this country 鈥� we really do 鈥� and we don’t often get a lot for it. And so it’s interesting that we have this model now. Tutoring is the perfect case study to do an outcomes-based contract, because we have potentially clear outcomes that we’re trying to measure: We want kids to grow a certain amount, and then we can actually link the money to what we’re getting from it. 

Especially now that federal COVID funds are gone, district and state budgets are tightening. I hope we don’t throw the success of tutoring that we’ve had to the wayside and instead think about how do we continue helping it deliver on its promise? And so if you can measure it and then pay only for getting the results that you want, that seems worthwhile, and something that we probably haven’t spent enough time exploring.

Speaking of ESSER funds, that’s a lot of money that’s basically gone. You mention AmeriCorps as well 鈥� AmeriCorps is either. Going forward, where can schools turn if they want to fund these sorts of things? What’s out there that is not at so much risk?

First of all, some districts are using their Title I funds. Now, those Title I funds might have been used for something else, and so you have to maybe make some tough choices 鈥� and I’m not going to say you should definitely do tutoring. I’m saying you should look at the evidence: What are you getting out of whatever it was you were doing? If you’re already doing tutoring and it’s going well, I’d rather a district keep it and give up something else that’s not working as well.

Ector County, Texas, has kept their tutoring program going to some extent, using Title I funds. Some other districts have done some similar work, even as districts like Guilford County, N.C., are having to scale back. But they are repurposing existing Title I funds, often to do this. One reason it’s really important to continue making the case for tutoring鈥檚 impact is that you can convince state legislatures, in some places at least, to fund tutoring. Louisiana put , both for last school year and this current year, into high-impact tutoring. And the funny thing about Louisiana is I didn’t even end up writing about it because it was happening so quickly last year while I was trying to finish the book.

I was like, “Wow, it’s a lot of money. Is this really going to happen?” And this year, 2025-2026, Louisiana is tutoring something like 240,000 kids using $30 million from their state budget, and I think some other district funds too, in a pretty effective model tied to their Science of Reading and their math work. And they have funded a lot of other pieces too, around curriculum, teacher professional development and instructional coaches. So for them, tutoring is that exact thing I said earlier about being a strategy within their broader goal of how to overhaul core instruction 鈥� and the state’s put in real money for it.

Connecticut passed to continue some high-impact tutoring work. But then in other states, we aren’t seeing that. Where to look for money? Can you convince your state legislatures to support tutoring because it works? Some places are able to do that.

And also some city budgets: The mayor in D.C. has . And the mayor in Nashville has into tutoring. 

At the end of the book, you lay out these three truisms from your reporting: “1. Public schools are hungry for new ideas that work. 2. Tutoring works. 3. Nothing is perfect.” It sounds like you’re a bit impatient here, and just want us to sort of get on with it. 

I do! Every single day you have kids showing up to school, and those kids either want to learn or it’s our job to help them want to learn, and we need to figure out the tools to do that. If you look, for instance, at continued problems with chronic absenteeism, we flipped a switch during the pandemic, and we thought we could just flip it back on.  That’s not what’s happened. So I believe we have to continue the sense of urgency that we had in 2021 and 2022, because there are kids every day in our schools. But the other thing I really want people to know is that in all of these places I went, people want to do good things for kids, and they’re willing to try new things and implement new programs and make big changes.

That’s not the reputation that K-12 public education has overall. And I want people to believe that that is part of the story of public education in the United States in 2025. I want us to get on with it, because it’s what people want to do. So let’s just do the thing.