This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education.

Students often struggle to connect math with the real world. Word problems—a combination of words, numbers, and mathematical operations—can be a perfect vehicle to take abstract numbers off the page.

Math word problems require literacy, math, and executive function skills from young children, so mastering them is key to later school success. Credit: Philip Keith for The Hechinger Report The ...

In Central Falls, R.I., teachers are trying new strategies that move away from focusing on “key words,” the traditional, simplistic approach that often leads younger students astray CENTRAL FALLS, R.I ...

If Ms. Smith’s 8th grade algebra class works through 10 word problems in an hour, and Ms. Jones’ class works through 10 equation problems during the same time, which class is likely to learn more math ...

Q: Last year, my daughter struggled with math story problems. It’s the same this year in eighth grade. She has no trouble reading the words but still can’t understand how to get the answer. Is there ...

Two students in Danielle Adler’s kindergarten class at Marcus Hook Elementary School in Marcus Hook, Pa., prepare for an addition problem. Credit: Holly Korbey for The Hechinger Report The Hechinger ...

Sharma is CEO and co-founder of Zearn, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming K-8 math education. Sharma is also the author of "Math Mind: The Simple Path of Loving Math," a book that dives into how we ...