Burns is a 1958 graduate of the
Wellington C. Mepham High School in
North Bellmore, New York. After receiving a
B.A. from
Syracuse University in
Syracuse, New York, and teaching in elementary and middle schools in Syracuse, Burns founded Math Solutions, an educational resource provider, in 1984. Burns pursued graduate studies at Syracuse University,
San Francisco State University, and the
University of California at Berkeley. In 1975, the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council cited Burns's book
The I Hate Mathematics! Book in "outstanding science books for children". In 1991, the
Bank Street College of Education in New York awarded Burns an honorary doctoral degree. In 1995 the Mepham High School Alumni Association listed Burns in their Hall of Fame. In 1996, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics honored Burns with the Ross Taylor/Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award "for her influence on mathematics education". In 1997, the
Association for Women in Mathematics honored Burns, "a mathematics educator with enormous scope and influence", with the
Louise Hay Award for Contributions to Mathematics Education. In 2010, the
Association of Educational Publishers inducted Burns into the Educational Publishing Hall of Fame. In 2012, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Math Solutions a $2.2 million grant "to fund the development of a Web-based diagnostic tool that will help middle school teachers assess students' computational and problem-solving skills". The end product of this grant was Math Reasoning Inventory, an assessment tool developed by Burns in collaboration with K–12 teachers, which is available without cost to teachers and administrators. ==Selected books==