The future elementary school teachers that Mark Montgomery works with at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, share a common fear: Most of them are “extremely anxious” about math.

Student work posted in an elementary school before the pandemic shows the “partial product” method of solving a multiplication problem, one of many methods students have learned with Common Core.

Baltimore — Imagine you’re a character in a math problem. You have three platters, but two cakes. All three platters need to have the same amount of cake. How would you split it? Without even saying ...