Recently, I read an article about a group of freshmen at UC Berkeley who showed up to their professor's office hours for help with calculus.

But before they could get to the calculus, they got stuck on something much simpler.

They were asked to solve:

7x - 5 = 9

It's a middle-school algebra problem.

Their professor had to stop and walk them through it step by step.

And this wasn't an isolated concern.

Across the University of California system, professors are reporting that more students are arriving unprepared for college-level math. At Berkeley, one study found that nearly one-third of first-semester calculus students in 2023 had severe gaps in their preparation. At UC Davis, the number of students who need to begin with precalculus has quadrupled over the past five years.

There is a larger debate happening about why this is happening and whether standardized testing should return to UC admissions.

If you'd like to dig into the story yourself, you can read more from EdSource here and Fox News here.

But as a math teacher, something else stood out to me.

Math gaps don't just go away because a student moves on to the next class.

Math builds.

A student can move from elementary math to middle school math to algebra and beyond while still carrying something they never completely learned years earlier.

Eventually, they need it again.

And suddenly that little gap isn't so little anymore.

I've seen this with my own students.

Sometimes we have to go back much further than a parent expects to find where the problem really began.

And that's okay.

Those gaps can be repaired.

But it also reminds me why I'm so passionate about building a strong math foundation from the beginning.

When I'm working with a first or second grader, I'm not only thinking about whether they can do today's lesson.

I'm thinking ahead to what they'll need in fifth grade,

in algebra,

and someday, maybe even in college calculus.

First-grade math doesn't look anything like calculus.

But the foundation starts much earlier than we think.

So what can you do now? Save these tips—you may want to come back to them.

• Don't rush past something your child doesn't understand. A little extra time now can save a lot of frustration later.
• Pay attention to repeated mistakes. If the same type of error keeps showing up, there may be an earlier skill that needs more work.
• Ask your child to show and explain their work. It makes it much easier to see where their thinking went off track.
• Go back when you need to. There's nothing wrong with reviewing an earlier skill—or even working at an earlier level—to strengthen the foundation.
• Get help before the gap gets bigger. Math builds on itself, so addressing a struggle early is almost always easier than waiting.

The goal isn't for your child to never struggle in math.

It's to notice when something isn't solid and give them the time and support to strengthen it before they're asked to build something new on top of it.

P.S. If you're concerned that your child may already have gaps in their math foundation, simply reply to this email and tell us what is going on. We'd be happy to help you figure out where to start!