How to Improve Math Scores in The City School District of the City of New York

Much like the city of New York, the City School District of the City of New York is enormous and diverse, with high-performing institutions like the best public middle schools in New York City every parent wants their kids to attend. However, plenty of challenges also exist across the hundreds of public schools in New York City. Teaching math to elementary and middle school students means helping the students meet the New York State Standards in Mathematics. Like the standards in other states across the country, the New York State math standards are demanding and can result in students becoming frustrated and falling behind.

In 2nd grade, students are expected to add and subtract whole numbers in base ten up to 1,000; classify polygons and non-polygons; as well as draw and analyze two-dimensional shapes. By 4th grade, they’re learning about models of multiplication and fractions, as well as studying angles and symmetry in geometry. In 6th grade, students are studying negative integers and the absolute value of rational numbers, as well as learning about numerical data sets. By 8th grade, they’re learning that the constant of proportionality in a linear equation is the slope, seeing how functions work, and studying how to sum the angles of a triangle as well as learning the Pythagorean Theorem.

These math standards, as well as New York City’s Core Curriculum in math implemented in 2003, can be a little overwhelming, especially for English Language Learners. Additionally, the abstract nature of algebra may mean middle school students can’t see the relevance of mathematics outside the classroom. Students may feel they have to learn too much in too short a time and can become discouraged and disengaged.

Covering NYC’s 5 boroughs, New York City Public Schools includes about 1 million students and approximately 1,800 schools spread across more than 30 School Districts. The districts include: 6 in Manhattan, 12 in Brooklyn, 6 in The Bronx, 7 in Queens and 1 in Staten Island, and a separate district for NY Special Schools. For 2023-24, New York City Public Schools Calendar had the academic year starting on September 7th, 2023 and ending on June 26th, 2024.

New York City was one of the last major cities in the country to establish public schools with education previously split between private schools or tutors, and charitable educational groups like the New York Manumission Society with Alexander Hamilton and Noah Webster among its founders. They helped set up the African Free School in 1794 and the school reportedly produced many of the early leaders of NYC’s African-American community.

In 1842, the New York State Legislature established the New York City Board of Education, with the power to build and supervise schools in NYC. In 1847, the first public high school - the Free Academy of the City of New York - was established. Up until then, public education in New York City was mostly carried out by the Public School Society (initially named the Free School Society), a private charitable organization.

After protests in 1964 and again later in the 1960s, Mayor John Lindsay yielded to public pressure and allowed community school boards a greater role in New York City Public Schools.

However, in 2002 the New York State Legislature gave control of the NYC Board of Education back to the mayor, allowing the mayor to appoint 7 board members while the 5 boroughs appointed 1 member each. The board was renamed The Panel for Educational Policy and along with the Chancellor and other school staff, makes up the Department of Education of the City of New York. Over the past 2 decades, the New York State Legislature has reportedly passed a series of laws maintaining effective Mayoral control of the Department of Education of the City of New York.

According to the New York State Department of Education, in NYC Public Schools, 73% of students were eligible for a free lunch while 3% were eligible for reduced lunches in the 2022-2023 academic year. The average class size in New York City Public Schools varies from around 13 students per class in 3rd grade mathematics to over 20 students per class in Geometry (Common Core) and Earth Science.

The student body is diverse with students identifying in the following proportions:

• 16% Asian/Pacific Islander
• 24% Black/African-American
• 41% Hispanic/Latino
• 14% White

In Clifton Public Schools in New Jersey, staff like Erin Zmuda - Supervisor of Math K-8 - needed to fill in the gaps in math learning among the diverse student population. They had to catch those learning gaps before some Clifton math students fell so far behind that they ended up in special education programs or on an Intervention & Referral Services (I&RS) plan.

They found that Prodigy Math engaged students who loved to battle each other in Prodigy Math’s online game. That’s because the more math questions you answer correctly in Prodigy Math, the more battles you win. The math is embedded in the game and kids end up loving Prodigy, learning lots of math skills along the way.  When students get a problem wrong, Prodigy gives them another attempt to try to fix their mistakes. This gives them another chance to use the helpful hint feature, read aloud button, or digital manipulatives.

A study found that Clifton Public School students with high levels of Prodigy use significantly increased the number of math skills mastered per month during the 2019-2020 academic year compared to 2018-2019. Teachers also found that Prodigy’s reports allowed them to share data with parents, which helped keep parents informed of their childrens’ progress in math. The reports also highlighted gaps in achievement. As a result, math lessons were easier to plan for teachers and support staff.

Prodigy is a web-based digital learning platform that embeds math questions within an engaging online game. It provides reports on students’ progress for teachers and  parents in the dashboard. It can be played at home or school on any device with an internet connection.

A key feature of Prodigy is that a student’s level is determined by the answers they give. The learning platform responds adaptively, giving each student an individualized pathway with skill-building math questions that challenge and encourage them. Prodigy Math keeps students playing, answering, and building skills day after day, both in class and at home on all of their devices.

Exposure to math really matters because math learning is cumulative and every task builds towards a deeper understanding. Thus, the challenge for a teacher is keeping their math students engaged. As students move through Prodigy Math, they gain a better understanding of the mathematical concepts they need to know. This is important because if a student has trouble with math in elementary school, middle school math can become an even tougher challenge. A supportive game-based learning platform is essential to ensure students don’t get left behind.

Teachers  realized that the Prodigy Math helped fill gaps that students were facing. They also realized that Prodigy would keep students engaged with their math practice. Using Prodigy, several studies showed that:

• Students' enjoyment of math on average was shown to have improved after only a few months usage.
• The more students used Prodigy Math, the more their math scores were demonstrated on average to correlate with higher grades.
• A higher percentage of accurate answers to Prodigy Math Questions tended to correlate to better scores in math exams.
• In a study, public school students in New Jersey who used Prodigy, were shown on average to make significant progress adding math skills every month.

Finally, progress monitoring with frequent reports through the Prodigy dashboard can help teachers to intervene and support math students in far more effective ways. They are able to adjust their strategies based on the reports Prodigy provides them. And parents get to see their children’s progress mastering new skills by using the parent dashboard and by receiving weekly reports.

With over 2 million active daily users, Prodigy Math is an engaging learning tool that, when used by teachers, kids and parents, makes math learning a fun experience for students, rather than a stressful task.