A little stress can motivate, but teachers increasingly report their students’ fears over math interfere with their learning. In a nationally representative survey conducted this spring, nearly all ...

Learning math takes effort and can even feel uncomfortable, but moments of struggle and mistakes are part of the process. Research shows that productive struggle in math leads to better learning. But ...

Higher education stakeholders have noted that math anxiety can hold students back from pursuing some disciplines or major programs, but a new analysis from Gallup finds that young Americans over all ...

California stands at a pivotal moment in math education. The State Board of Education has adopted a new mathematics framework for kindergarten through grade twelve that emphasizes equity, engagement, ...

Working memory is like a mental chalkboard we use to store temporary information while executing other tasks. Scientists worked with more than 200 elementary students to test their working memory, ...

Across the country this fall, millions of college students are walking into math classrooms worried about their future — perhaps with good reason. For decades, mathematics — particularly college ...

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