Math Anxiety Is Real. But It’s Also Manageable.

In our last post, we unpacked what math anxiety is. It’s a real, physical and emotional response to math that can impact students’ ability to engage, process, and succeed. We also talked about how it can show up differently for every learner.

The good news? Math anxiety isn’t permanent. And there’s a lot we can do to help.

Research from the American Psychological Association and Healthline shows that the way we approach math instruction, especially early on, can either fuel anxiety or help calm it.

Let’s talk about what works.

1. Normalize Struggle Without Normalizing Fear

Struggle is a normal part of learning math. It’s not a sign that a student “just isn’t a math person.” Instead of rushing to correct mistakes or only praising right answers, we can:

• Celebrate effort and strategy.
• Ask students to explain their thinking, even when the answer isn’t correct.
• Reinforce that mistakes are not just expected. They’re important.

Structures of Equality (SoE) supports this by helping students focus on meaning and relationships in math, not just the answer.

2. Create Low-Stress Opportunities to Practice

The research is clear: repeated, low-pressure practice helps change how students’ brains respond to math. Instead of seeing it as a threat, they start to experience math as something they can figure out.

A few ways to lower the pressure:

• Quick, ungraded check-ins
• Self-assessment opportunities
• Giving “think time” before asking for answers
• Collaborative work where students can share ideas without worrying about being wrong

When we focus on concepts like the math main idea and use the SoE structures regularly, we give students a reliable foundation to build their thinking on.

3. Shift the Language Around Math

The way we talk about math matters more than we sometimes realize. Saying “this is easy” or “you just have to memorize it” can actually make students feel worse if they don’t get it right away. Instead, we can say:

• “Let’s make sense of this together.”
• “There are lots of ways to approach this.”
• “Your thinking makes sense. Let’s build on it.”

When we use Structures of Equality, we model this kind of language. We make math about understanding, not speed or memorization.

4. Teach Strategies for Managing Anxiety

Sometimes, it’s not the math that’s overwhelming. It’s the feeling of panic that comes with it. Teaching students simple strategies can help them manage those emotions:

• Deep breathing before a test or a tricky problem
• Positive self-talk, shifting from “I’m bad at math” to “I can figure this out.”
• Breaking problems into smaller, manageable chunks

When students can calm the emotional response, it makes the math thinking clearer and easier to access.

5. Model Calm, Supportive Responses

Students pick up on our emotions. If we get frustrated or rushed when they’re struggling, they feel it. If we stay calm, curious, and patient, especially when they’re stuck, we send a powerful message: Struggle is safe here. Growth is expected.

In a Structures of Equality classroom, that means asking open-ended questions, helping students go back to the math main idea when they feel lost, and giving them the space to rethink and try again.

And We Can’t Forget Caregivers, Either

While we can make changes at school, we also need to recognize that many caregivers experience math anxiety too. Students may go home to parents or guardians who carry the same fears we’re trying to help them overcome. 

Sharing resources like this article from the American Psychological Association can help caregivers understand what their child is experiencing and why their support matters. We can also encourage them to shift their language about math at home—praising effort and persistence, not just correct answers—and to tackle math together by asking open-ended questions like, “How do you think we should start?”

Supporting families in small, accessible ways helps create a stronger, more consistent foundation for students to build confidence.

The Bottom Line

Math anxiety isn’t just about math. It’s about what students believe about themselves.

When we change how we teach, through frameworks like Structures of Equality, intentional language, low-pressure practice, and emotional support, we change those beliefs too.

Every student deserves to feel capable and confident in math.