Strategies for reducing students’ math anxiety

As school leaders, math teachers, and families prepare for the upcoming school year, strategies for supporting students’ success with math will be essential. With estimates that approximately 93% of adult US-Americans experience some level of math anxiety, it is critical to identify strategies that teachers and families can implement to help shape students’ positive growth mindsets and experiences with math.

We know that teachers play a powerful role in the development of mathematical mindsets and skills, including, implementing teaching practices that focus on fostering a growth mindset in math and building classroom environments that are supportive of those mindsets. In addition, we’ve shared other strategies that teachers can implement daily to foster classroom environments that support positive math mindsets. 

Overcoming objections: "I'm not a math person"

Reimagining the role of families in reducing math anxiety

A recent study highlighted the powerful role that families play, "by fostering discussions about the importance, relevance, and application of math in everyday life." By doing so, "families and communities can create supportive environments for math learning outside of the classroom, which enhances students’ engagement inside the classroom." Furthermore, the results from this study suggest that students do better when:

• Families and communities have high expectations of them
• Districts/schools connect their teachers and families with cultural and language supports
• They have community resources during out-of-school time to reinforce their math learning

Families play an essential role in supporting math success. Yet, many teachers are missing an opportunity to activate a powerful resource. 

Strategies for equipping families to support math success

Dr. Elisabeth O’Bryon recently delved into the role that families play in helping students develop a growth mindset with math.  Consistent teacher-parent communication is the single most important strategy to ensure families are equipped with information and actionable activities to support student success with math. Our expert team has compiled 3 best practices for making the most of your parent communication activities:

• Avoid making assumptions about what families know (and don’t). Consider asking for input from families that they would find most helpful. When crafting messages, minimize the use of jargon and consider using tools that offer translation into families' home languages. 
• Include environmental prompts for connecting math concepts to everyday life. Families live mathematical lives (for example, noticing math in cooking or sports) and there are opportunities to weave math into everyday activities. This can make math more visible and relevant in their child’s life. 
• Appreciate the rich perspectives that families bring. Families know about and care deeply about their children. Welcoming the insights they have to offer will bring a more holistic picture of students in your classroom. ​

We're excited to offer K-8th grade-level math content for teachers and families 

In addition to our literacy and SEL learning tips and activities, we are excited to offer FASTalk messages that are aligned with key concepts and learning goals for math. This comprehensive math content equips families with essential information about math concepts and prompts for engaging their child in conversations about math outside of the classroom. The messages include conversation starters, routines to try, and reflection opportunities to help strengthen a child’s growth mindset and mathematical skills. 

Currently, our K-8 math content aligns to grade levels and units of the high-quality curriculum, Illustrative Mathematics, and soon we will support skills-based, standards-aligned math content in our library. Learn more about our mathematics content and how to bring FASTalk to your school.

Explore Math Content