The Level Up Blog
Math that actually sticks
Practical, research-backed writing for parents on how kids learn math, what trips them up, and what helps.
Why long division overloads a fourth-grader's working memory
Long division is the first math algorithm that asks a child to run four operations at once, in a strict order, while keeping place value steady across the...
Your child's MAP or i-Ready math score, explained
What the score, the percentile and the level on a MAP or i-Ready report mean, why a small drop is usually not a real drop, and what to do with the score.
What do Kumon and Mathnasium cost, and what do you get for it?
Kumon costs about $150 to $230 a month for one subject, and Mathnasium about $430 to $560 for two visits a week. What each one does, and what results it can show.
One student: +18 percentile points on MAP math after six weeks of Level Up
Every earlier summer on record, one student's MAP math percentile stayed flat or dropped. After six weeks of Level Up, it jumped 18 percentile points, into the top 13%.
Practice what your child's class is learning now
Your child can now practice the math the class is working on at school, right in Level Up, with a plan that checks the earlier skills the topic builds on first.
Why is my child still struggling in math? Recent research points to a few earlier skills.
A math teacher recently sent us a research paper, and we found it worth sharing, because it makes a clear case for why the earlier skills underneath a new math...
What trips kids up in math? We looked at more than 10,000 answers to find out.
Picture a fifth-grader at the kitchen table with a fraction worksheet. In class the lesson made sense, or seemed to. At home the first problem stalls, then the...
Do kids still need to learn math when AI can do it for them?
Do kids still need to learn math if AI can do it? Yes, and the reason is not "because school says so." The people building the tools, and the labor economists...
How far behind is my child in math? What our assessment data actually shows.
How far behind is my child in math? Most likely, a little, and in one or two specific areas rather than across the board. A report card shows a grade, not...
A 10-minute back-to-school math practice routine that shakes off summer rust
Back-to-school week arrives with a familiar hum. Backpacks come down from closets, shoe sizes get checked, and somewhere in the last stretch of August a quiet...
Back-to-school math: what the last few weeks before school starts actually buy
By mid-July, the back-to-school list is mostly shopping: shoes, supplies, the backpack that has to survive one more year. The thing that actually decides how...
How to tell if educational apps for kids are actually teaching anything
Is the "educational" app your kid is using actually teaching them anything? The honest answer is that you cannot tell from the App Store page, and the star...
Are kids today really worse at math, or does every generation just think so?
The feeling shows up around the kitchen table on a Tuesday night. The fourth-grade work looks foreign, the kid says she hates math, and the parent thinks...
Summer math camp vs. adaptive learning: which actually closes the gap?
A summer math camp is one of the more common ways a parent tries to keep math from slipping between June and August. Three weeks, a classroom, a teacher...
Summer math: what worksheets miss, and what adaptive practice catches
Summer break is the longest stretch of the year a child spends away from formal math instruction. Most families respond the same way: a thick packet of summer...
Why a fifth-grader stuck on fractions is usually missing a third-grade skill
A parent looks at the fifth-grade fractions worksheet on the kitchen table and assumes the problem is fractions. The teacher's report says the same: weak on...
The summer before fifth grade is the one to take seriously
Fourth grade is the year math stops being mostly about counting and starts being mostly about reasoning. The new work is long division, multi-digit...
The post-pandemic math recovery is U-shaped. Middle-income schools got the least of it.
NWEA's February 2026 analysis of five million students across 9,326 schools found that only one in three schools has recovered to pre-pandemic achievement in...
The summer slide in math isn't about concepts. It's about facts.
School-year math is dense and continuous. A fourth-grader runs into multiplication facts in fraction work, in area problems, in long division, sometimes dozens...