By Jamie Candee
When I was in elementary school, I fell behind. Reading felt difficult, and most subjects seemed out of reach. Everything changed when my second-grade teacher took a personal interest in my learning.
She worked with me week after week, showing me specific strategies and building my confidence. By the end of that year I looked forward to school and my grades improved. That teacher didn’t just teach me skills—she altered the trajectory of my life and inspired me to pursue a career in education.
Looking back, I realize how often adults unintentionally signal that certain subjects are only for a few “naturally gifted” students. Math is a clear example: we hear colleagues and parents say, “I’m just not good at math,” or “I hate math,” and we nod along as if that’s inevitable. Those comments reinforce a false narrative that math is innate rather than learned. In reality, like reading the alphabet or learning to type, math can be taught. Teachers have the power to dispel the myth of the “math person” and create inclusive classrooms where every student can develop strong math skills and confidence.
Math is essential in everyday life and in long-term opportunities. Research shows that math competency expands college and career options, increases lifetime earnings potential, and improves social and economic outcomes. Beyond career implications, basic numeracy supports daily tasks—measuring ingredients, estimating travel time, budgeting, and following instructions to assemble items. Strong math skills also underpin emerging, future-ready abilities such as data literacy, since students need to interpret, compare, and analyze the massive amounts of data generated daily to draw meaningful conclusions.
Developing math skills cultivates critical thinking and problem-solving. When students tackle mathematical problems, they learn to view challenges from multiple perspectives and to synthesize information. Productive struggle—working actively through new problems—builds perseverance, a transferable trait with benefits across academics, careers, and personal life.
To replace the myth of fixed math ability with a culture of learning and growth, educators can make several practical shifts in instruction.
Emphasize why, not just what
Traditional math teaching often centers on the “what”—formulas, procedures, and isolated facts. A more effective approach highlights the “why”: why methods work, why relationships between concepts matter, and why a procedure solves a particular problem. Focusing on the rationale behind math deepens conceptual understanding and supports students with diverse learning styles.
Rigorous, engaging curriculum that balances conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and problem solving produces stronger mathematical identities. When students understand the reasons behind strategies, they apply math with flexibility across different situations and build a foundation for advanced topics later in their academic journey.
Use diverse teaching practices to personalize learning
Students benefit from multiple pathways to mastery. Personalizing instruction doesn’t require chaos; it means offering structured choices and varied activities within a unit. Strategies like math stations with manipulatives, visual story problems, project-based tasks, or student-created podcasts let learners engage with concepts in ways that suit them best.
Digital curriculum and adaptive platforms also support personalized learning by providing self-paced lessons while teachers deliver targeted small-group or one-on-one instruction. Consistent access to lesson content helps maintain a cohesive learning experience across in-person, hybrid, or remote environments. Evidence from district-level implementations indicates that personalized digital pathways can produce measurable gains on state assessments when they are aligned to standards and used consistently throughout the year.
Rethink praise and recognition
Classroom praise in math often highlights speed and correct answers, but that emphasis can discourage students who learn differently or more slowly. Shifting recognition toward perseverance, problem-solving strategies, and creative reasoning promotes a growth mindset. Celebrate students for asking good questions, for persisting through challenges, and for trying alternative approaches.
Class activities that normalize mistakes—such as a short “Happy Mistakes” discussion where students analyze incorrect answers—encourage reflection and collaborative learning. Awards or recognition focusing on problem-solving skill, creativity, or collaboration reinforce that math is multi-dimensional and that multiple approaches are valuable.
Adopt adaptive, individualized assessments
Effective assessment is flexible and personalized. Students enter classrooms with diverse learning profiles; especially in the wake of widespread disruptions to schooling, many are in need of targeted intervention. Adaptive assessments and diagnostic tools help teachers pinpoint gaps and tailor instruction.
High-impact tutoring and small-group, relationship-based interventions that align with classroom instruction are especially effective for students needing extra support. When educators use local data and diagnostic results to drive tutoring and individualized lessons, students make measurable progress. Districts that leverage individual assessments to create focused intervention plans often see accelerated learning and higher student motivation in math.
Math should not be framed as an innate trait reserved for a few. By emphasizing conceptual understanding, offering varied pathways to learning, celebrating the process, and using adaptive assessments, educators can build classrooms where every student believes they can succeed in math and sees themselves as capable learners.
This article comes to us from our partners at ET Magazine.
About the author
Jamie Candee is CEO of Edmentum, a digital curriculum provider, and has extensive experience in educational technology, private equity, and policy.