The Big Apple is trying out a new equation to improve declining math grades.
City officials on Monday unveiled a new math curriculum for public schools that aims to help students overcome their “fear of math” by emphasizing open discussion.
“Students start to fear math in the early grades, and some say, ‘I’m not good at math,’ but even worse than that, we have teachers who say, ‘I’m not good at math,'” Superintendent David Banks said.
“We need to turn this around.”
The initiative, known as “NYC Solves,” will see nearly all of the city’s more than 400 high schools and 93 of the city’s 600 middle schools adopt a standardized “Illustrative Math curriculum” starting in the fall.
The curriculum differs from traditional math learning by emphasizing problem discussion in the classroom and helping children understand concepts rather than jargon and step-by-step equations.
It builds on NYC Reads, a sweeping phonics-based overhaul of elementary school literacy instruction that Mayor Eric Adams’ administration rolled out last May to half of the city’s school districts.
“NYC Solves will put a premium on deep math concepts in our classrooms, connecting those concepts to each other and applying those concepts to the real world,” Banks told reporters at Samara Community School in the Bronx.
He noted that half of students in grades 3-8 were not proficient in math in 2023, an improvement from the previous year.
“And about 66 percent of black students and about 64 percent of Latino students were performing below par,” Banks added. “I don’t know about you guys, but I find this totally unacceptable.”
This worrying trend continues into high school, where 42 percent of students failed the Algebra 1 Regents exam by the end of ninth grade last year, Banks said.
The mayor said that, based on his own experience as someone who “suffers from dyslexia,” he can empathize with struggling students.
“But the formula I’m laying out today is simple: If you take good policies and multiply them by hard work, the end result is always positive,” Adams said.
The new unified math curriculum is expected to cost the city $32 million over five years and is already being implemented for algebra instruction in high schools.
One teacher who participated in the pilot program called the past year “the most difficult year of my teaching career so far.”
The teacher, who asked not to be named, noted that students who don’t have a solid grasp of mathematical concepts struggle to understand, as do those who face language barriers.
“Students who are English language learners are struggling… and students who come in without prerequisite skills are struggling because those skills aren’t covered,” the source said.
City officials on Monday also announced new departments to support multilingual learners and students with disabilities.
The Department of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL) was established at a time when the city is grappling with an influx of 38,000 immigrant students into the school system.
Vice Chancellor Christina Foti, who has been promoted to director of special education, will lead a department that has a budget of $750 million and 1,300 employees.
