Few elementary education programs give future teachers enough exposure to foundational math concepts, like number sense and algebraic reasoning, before they reach the classroom. That’s the upshot of a ...

How can teachers help all students become successful in mathematics? It is a deceptively complicated question—one that invites different ideas in the field about how best to prepare students for ...

Teacher education often receives criticism for being too theoretical. Many students lack more training in how to teach in practice when they enter schools. They now receive this at the University of ...

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

What mathematical knowledge do elementary teachers use in teaching? About 10 years ago, Deborah Ball and her colleagues at Michigan State University carried out a research project to address this ...

Math teachers who believe women no longer face discrimination tend to be biased against girls’ ability in math. This is what we found through an experiment we conducted with over 400 elementary and ...

Teachers report thinking that if girls do better in math than boys, it is probably because of their innate ability and effort. But they also report that when boys do well in math, it is more likely ...

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

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 ...