A simple method to improve math performance 🧮

American students' math performance has been declining for decades, with scores ranking among the bottom 25% globally. The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened this situation.


A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that simple electronic messages based on behavioral science principles can slightly improve students' progress in math. These 'nudges' were tested with over 140,000 teachers and nearly 3 million elementary school students.

Researchers compared the effectiveness of 15 different interventions to a simple reminder. The most effective messages encouraged teachers to log in weekly to an educational platform to review a personalized report on their students' progress. This approach increased math progress by 5.06%.

The study highlights the importance of personalization in interventions. Messages referencing specific progress of a teacher's students were more effective than generic ones. This suggests teachers are more motivated to act when they directly see the impact of their actions on their students.

Despite these promising results, the effects remain modest. Researchers note that more intensive interventions may be needed for significant improvements. They also call for further research to understand the underlying mechanisms of these results.

This study opens interesting perspectives for improving math education. By combining light, personalized interventions with other approaches, more marked progress could be achieved. Researchers are already planning new studies to explore these avenues.

The implications of these findings for educational policies are considerable. By better understanding what motivates teachers to adopt effective practices, it would be possible to design more targeted and effective interventions. This could help reverse the trend of declining math performance.