Math can be a difficult subject for students to master—and for teachers to teach. Concepts build on each other, so any gaps in knowledge compound over time. While we use math every day to balance our checking accounts and make sure new furniture fits, it's hard for students to immediately see the relevance of what they’re learning to the real world. Plus, the subject is rife with fraught emotions. Students often feel like they’re not “math people” and resist tackling challenging problems.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that achievement remains low overall in the subject. Wide swaths of 4th and 8th graders—24 percent and 39 percent, respectively—don’t meet even the basic achievement level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Education Week reporters pored through the research to find the best practices to teach students the math skills they need and boost their confidence in the subject. The following guides—adapted from an email mini-course—offer practical tips and strategies for math teachers of all grade levels.