A sharp improvement in math proficiency by Buffalo Public Schools' economically disadvantaged third graders last year ...

to make word problems more approachable, said Kevin Dykema, the immediate past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and an 8th grade math teacher in Mattawan, Michigan.

In classrooms with mixed abilities, students reading a word problem out loud in groups can help, said David Dai, an 8th and 9th grade math instructor at the Barton Academy for Advanced World ...

some of which they hear nowhere outside of the math classroom. These students have difficulty understanding written or verbal directions or explanations, and find word problems especially ...