Improving Math Outcomes for NYC Public School Students: Lessons from Massachusetts

NYC Solves, launched in 2024-2025, is a public school initiative aimed at improving math instruction by implementing standardized, high-quality math curricula. As the initiative is still in its early stages, actions at this moment are critical. As a national leader in education, Massachusetts offers valuable lessons for NYC Solves’ math reform. For this study, we applied a district-level panel framework with fixed effects and a multi-phase, pre-post design to examine Massachusetts’ math reforms. The results indicate that socioeconomic status is the main predictor of math achievement so for NYC Solves, adequate teacher and curricular support are essential to maximize impact.