Math can be frustrating for many—students who struggle to grasp concepts, parents who feel unequipped to help, and teachers who face challenges in making lessons engaging and effective. The traditional approach often relied on memorization, leaving little room for true understanding. But research has shown that math can be intuitive, engaging, and deeply rewarding when taught the right way.
Alison Fox Mazzola, founder of Elementary Math for Parents and an experienced math education specialist with a Master’s in Education from UCLA, has spent years working with students, parents, and teachers to shift the way math is learned and taught. With over two decades in the field, including a decade teaching gifted students at The Nueva School, her approach is built on evidence-based strategies that help learners move from confusion to clarity.
A Personal Shift: From Memorization to Understanding
At the beginning of her teaching career, Alison had a transformational experience. A math specialist regularly visited her second-grade classroom, introducing visual models to explain concepts.
“I felt like I relearned math when I was teaching second grade,” Alison recalls. “The math specialist explained concepts to the students using visual models. Did you know that the number of objects in a square number can actually be arranged into a square? You can make a square out of four objects but not out of five. I never knew that math was supposed to make sense.”
This experience changed the way she viewed and taught math. She realized that math was not meant to be a rigid process of memorization but an opportunity to explore patterns and relationships. From that moment, her mission became clear: to help students, parents, and teachers experience math in a way that is logical, engaging, and accessible.
Why Math Feels Like a Struggle for Many
Many adults were taught math in a way that emphasized memorization over comprehension. As a result, parents today often feel lost when helping their children with homework, and teachers struggle to break old habits while introducing new, research-backed strategies.
For students, the pressure to get the right answer quickly can be overwhelming. Many grow up believing they are simply ‘not good at math,’ leading to frustration and disengagement. However, brain research over the past twenty years has confirmed that mistakes and struggle are crucial for deep learning. Students learn best when they transition from concrete to abstract thinking, using hands-on models before moving to symbolic representation.
Alison’s work is rooted in these principles, helping parents understand their children’s experiences and giving teachers the tools to make lessons more effective.
A New Way to Approach Math—For Everyone
Alison’s approach is built around making math make sense. Through workshops, online courses, and coaching, she helps parents, teachers, and students break free from outdated methods. A key focus of her work is visual learning, where concepts are introduced with models and representations before shifting to numbers and formulas.
A parent who attended one of her workshops shared: “Working with Alison was life-changing. I grew up learning math an entirely different way. I never knew concepts could be expressed visually.”
This shift in understanding helps students approach math with confidence, seeing it as a logical process rather than a set of arbitrary rules.
Check out her Instagram to learn more about her process: https://www.instagram.com/elementarymathforparents/
Helping Parents Support Their Children’s Learning
Parents want to support their children’s education, but modern math teaching methods can feel unfamiliar. Alison offers in-person and online workshops to bridge this gap, explaining why math is taught differently today and providing practical ways for parents to reinforce learning at home.
She has also developed two online courses specifically for parents who want to understand how schools teach math today. These courses provide a roadmap for making math a more positive experience at home.
Supporting Teachers in the Classroom
For teachers, balancing curriculum demands while fostering deep understanding can be a challenge. Alison provides professional development to help teachers refine their instruction, focusing on strategies like discussion-based learning—where students articulate their reasoning, explore different perspectives, and build confidence in problem-solving.
Lindsay Hershenhorn, Director of Curriculum and Program Innovation at Children’s Day School, praised Alison’s work: “Alison has a deep understanding of modern math classrooms and helps parents see math through a new lens. Her work transforms the way math is taught—with confidence and clarity.”
For educators looking for effective ways to engage their students, Alison’s strategies help shift the focus from rote learning to mathematical discovery.
Changing How Students See Math
A major barrier to math success is the belief that some people are simply ‘not math people.’ However, research from Jo Boaler has shown that there is no such thing as a ‘math brain’—everyone can develop strong math skills when taught in the right way.
Alison’s methods emphasize a growth mindset, helping students embrace struggle as part of learning. By recognizing patterns, thinking critically, and taking risks, students build not just math skills, but essential life skills.
One student summed up the excitement of learning math through Alison’s approach: “This (math) is more fun than reading Calvin and Hobbes!” That’s the kind of engagement that fosters lifelong confidence in problem-solving.
Beyond Math: Building Life Skills
Alison believes that math education goes beyond the classroom—it shapes the way students approach challenges, solve problems, and make decisions.
“So much of learning math is learning life skills. We need to persevere with problems, share our thinking, look for patterns, and take risks. These skills help us be successful in math, but they are also skills needed for any life endeavor,” she explains.
She is so passionate about this connection that she is currently writing a book on the subject, set to be published later this year.
For parents, teachers, and students who want to transform their approach to math, Alison’s work provides a clear, research-backed path forward. Connect with her on LinkedIn to stay updated on her latest insights and resources.
