Debates over how to teach math echo the conflicts over reading instruction, and some issues are similar. But unlike math, reading—in its full sense—draws on everything a person has been able to learn.

Students in Kristen Gonsoir’s classroom at Groton Area High School in Groton, S.D., spend a lot of time solving equations together. Early this school year, they passed almost an entire period working ...

Hannah Moulton teaches Algebra 1. But before her 9th graders get started on graphing linear functions or solving quadratic equations, she makes sure that they have a much more basic skill down pat.

Next month, a panel of University of California professors in the sciences and math will give their recommendations on the contentious issue of how much math high school students should know before ...