A decade after the Education Department launched its $7 billion school improvement grants and four years after Congress killed the program, the most comprehensive longitudinal study to date paints the much-maligned program in a potentially better light.

Results are unimpressive so far from a Washington state program that guarantees college scholarships to middle school students who keep a pledge to make it through high school with a 2.0 GPA, avoid trouble with the law, and apply for student aid.

New research suggests anxiety can make students avoid engaging in math, even when they could gain big rewards from doing so. But a separate study also offers a simple way teachers can help math-anxious students build confidence.

Racial and gender stereotypes may color teachers' perceptions of students' math abilities, even when they rate students' performance equally, finds a new study in the journal Educational Researcher.

On the heels of a troubling "report card" on reading and math skills among U.S. students, a global test of adult skills suggests older generations may echo those problems.

Boys and girls start out on the same biological footing when it comes to math, according to the first neuroimaging study of math gender differences in children.

"Over the past decade, there has been no progress in either mathematics or reading performance, and the lowest-performing students are doing worse," Peggy Carr, the associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said of the latest national assessment results.

It generally takes until preschool age for children to understand that a word like "four" represents a set, but new research from Johns Hopkins University suggests infants understand the concept of counting years earlier.

After a successful pilot, a professional development program is looking to expand its lesson-study approach to rural teachers.

The Knowledge Is Power Program schools were created in 1994 to help more low-income and minority students get into college. A new study suggests the charter network's goal is being met.