Schools are often described as engines of opportunity — places where students gain the skills and knowledge needed to build their futures. But for too many young people, that engine stalls before it ...

High school math, and algebra, in particular, is in crisis. Although some students thrive on the pathway to calculus, most do not. Algebra I is the single most failed course in American high schools.

Give a three-year old a smartphone and she’ll likely figure out how to turn it on and operate a few simple functions. But confront her with an algebra problem and ask her to solve for x? Not likely.