Q: My fourth-grade daughter is less successful in math than other subjects. I'd like to help, but the Common Core approach is different than mine. She needs to nail her times tables. Will I confuse her if I work with her?

A: It's useful for children to learn that there's more than one way to understand a math problem, says Marilyn Burns, one of the nation's top math educators. "If your daughter ever seems confused about your approach, confer with the teacher."

One important way to help with math homework is to ensure it's complete, writes Dr. Jason Zimba in a post on edexcellence.net. Zimba, a lead writer of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, encourages parents to look over homework. If you spot an error, ask your daughter to do the problem again. If everything is correct, select a problem and ask her to explain how she got the answer. If a question is left blank, pull up a chair to talk about it.

He advises parents to take a common-sense approach, asking a child to "tell me what you know so far about this problem." After that, Zimba writes, "If it's a word problem, we might act it out; if it's a computation, we might warm up with a simpler version of the problem."

When it comes to times tables, Common Core standards expect students "to know their sums and products from memory and to be fluent with the standard algorithm for each of the four basic operations," says Zimba. "These expectations are unlikely to be met without extensive practice."

In the Zimba household, math practice is part of "Saturday School," a routine that he calls "weekly exercise for the whole family's brain." Zimba uses flash cards, digital apps such as Math Drills and games he creates. Find those on his blog jzimba.blogspot.com.

There's not enough time in class to nail math facts, agrees Nancy Bourne, the STEM coordinator for the Palm Beach County (Florida) School District. "Parents are essential in providing the practice kids need to achieve 'automaticity' -- the ability to retrieve times tables automatically, so when solving problems kids don't have to stop and figure out, 'Now, what is 7 times 6 again?'"

She has a few tips for parents:

-- Remind kids of helpful patterns and rules such as when multiplying by five, the product will always end in five or zero; or the commutative property rule, stating that no matter the order, you still get the same answer.

-- Make the goal fast retrieval. "Even with all the tricks, most kids still have to practice a lot to be speedy," says Bourne. "Websites such as multiplication.com, sumdog.com and apps such as Brownie Points can help. Don't drill until boredom, though. Five minutes a night goes a long way to enshrining these in the brain forever."

-- Point out the math in daily life. "Doubling a recipe?" Bourne says. "Ask your daughter to do it. Have her estimate the total cost of items in your shopping cart before checking out."

Just remember this important advice from math educator Burns: "Children do best when teachers and parents are partners. This doesn't happen enough with math."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Our daughter's teacher uses "growth mindset theory" and encourages kids to "grow their brains." She praises effort more than grades and says that failure can be good. This is so weird for third grade! Is there anything to it?

A: Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck pioneered "growth mindset" research. It draws on neuroscience showing that a learner's brain can improve with dedicated effort.

"A growth mindset is the understanding that personal qualities and abilities can change. It leads people to take on challenges, persevere in the face of setbacks, and become more effective learners," writes Eduardo Briceno, co-founder with Dweck of education program Mindset Works.

Dweck's research shows that how a student thinks about herself as a learner has a significant impact on learning; there's a strong connection between students' motivation to learn a new skill and how they think about their intelligence.

Kids who think their intelligence is "fixed" -- that they are stuck at a certain level of smarts -- tend to do less well than those who think that they can do anything they set their minds to. Equally powerful is this finding: Students who think that their intelligence or skill level can be improved by effort and experimentation seek more challenges, learn from mistakes and don't give up in the face of failure.

Dweck delivers a message young learners need to hear. It's why many teachers embrace it and encourage kids to realize that the more they exercise their brains, the stronger they become.

Dweck's findings on the role of praise are especially helpful. She wants teachers and parents to change the way they praise. Rather than use general praise ("You can do it because you're smart!"), she says it's more effective to praise specific efforts that lead to improvements such as focus, persistence and work habits ("You're doing a good job organizing your science fair experiment. It will give you plenty of time to practice presenting."). This takes the spotlight off fixed ability and puts it on the process of learning.

People new to growth mindset "sometimes conclude that we should simply praise children for working hard," writes Briceno, "but this is a nascent level of understanding."

He continues: "Students often haven't learned that working hard involves thinking hard, which involves reflecting on and changing our strategies so we become more and more effective learners over time, and we need to guide them to come to understand this."

A student who is trying very hard but isn't making progress should be coached to try different approaches; this is where the praise is most effective.

The growth mindset framework is a useful tool to get kids thinking about how to grow their capacity to learn and shift their thinking about success and failure.

For example, Dweck encourages parents to use the power of "yet." If Jayden is having trouble with fractions, explain that she isn't good yet. Emphasize that with effort, she will master them.

When it comes to failure, Dweck says to make sure kids know it's OK to fail. Taking risks and learning from failure lead to invention and creativity.

To learn more, check out Brainology, a program that helps teachers and parents foster growth mindsets at mindsetworks.com.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: At a gathering over the holidays, I was amazed at how little history my Generation Z family members knew. One cousin, a college freshman, was clueless about the Cold War; another, a high school senior, was fuzzy about the Civil Rights movement. At age 43, I'm no old fogey complaining about "the younger generation," but I do wonder what my own kids are learning in school. Doesn't the Common Core teach history?

A: Don't blame the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). They were only adopted in most states within the last couple of years, so the curriculum you're referring to would not have had been based on the CCSS.

In 2009, when the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and a group of national business leaders decided to create a set of skills and knowledge that students graduating high school should have in order to be college- and career-ready, they put their focus solely on standards for mathematics and English language arts (ELA).

Selected readings in the ELA standards support history. For example, most high school students read Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech to the Second Virginia Convention; George Washington's Farewell Address; Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" State of the Union Address; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail.

While there are no national standards for history, most states have their own. Many high schools use Advanced Placement curricula as a starting point for what should be covered in U.S. history, U.S. government and world history.

Common Core standards for science, the arts and world languages are being crafted by organizations independent of CCSSO and NGA. (To read the standards in math and ELA, go to commoncore.org.)

But you do raise a good question: What should all Americans know? Or, as Lisa Hansel of the Core Knowledge Blog puts it, "What should all of our children have the opportunity to learn?"

In 1987, University of Virginia professor E.D. Hirsch launched a national debate with his best-seller, "Cultural Literacy" (Vintage), with its 5,000 facts and cultural references. Parents and educators embraced his subsequent series, spelling out what children should learn at each grade level.

Hirsch's critics argued that one professor shouldn't decide what all kids should learn to have a common vocabulary and shared frame of reference in an increasingly diverse country.

To that end, Eric Liu has launched "What Every American Should Know," a project of the educational nonprofit Aspen Institute's Citizenship and American Identity Program.

"Hirsch's list was attacked, celebrated and much discussed," Liu writes on the project's website. "Today, amidst giant demographic and social shifts, the United States needs such common knowledge more than ever. But a 21st-century sense of cultural literacy has to be radically more diverse and inclusive. And it needs to come not from one person, but from all of us."

Inspired by Hirsch's work, Liu turned to crowdsourcing for the project, giving all Americans an opportunity to help cultivate, according to Hansel, "a shared body of knowledge that honors our diversity while forming a common bond."

What do you think Americans should know to be civically and culturally literate? Enter your top 10 at whateveryamericanshouldknow.org.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)