Math Study Shows Difficulty in Motivating Teachers to Change Behaviors
Like an online retailer trying to woo a customer back by offering a 10% discount on the boots they've been eyeing, education researcher Angela Duckworth wanted to understand how to incentivize teachers to log in regularly to an online math platform that aims to help them improve their students' academic performance.
'Today is perfect for checking your Pace Report!'
'Keep Zearning!'
'By opening this email, you've earned another 100 digital raffle tickets in the Zearn Math Giveaway!'
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In partnership with Zearn Math, a nonprofit online math instruction platform used by roughly 25% of U.S. elementary school students, Duckworth and a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Behavior Change for Good Initiative launched a megastudy that peppered 140,000 teachers with different types of email prompts to log into the platform's dashboard each week and check their students' progress.
Behavioral scientists like Duckworth, who popularized the 'power of grit' about a decade ago, spend a lot of time trying to pinpoint what, exactly, it is that prompts an individual to sign a form, become an organ donor or click an ad that promises a secure and safe retirement now.
'In the case of education there's the idea of nudging the students directly,' Duckworth said. 'But there's also the idea that's less commonly studied, which is, what do you do to nudge the teachers, who are not in complete charge, but have a lot of authority about what is going to happen in the classroom that day? It was clear to us that if we could get the students onto the Zearn platform that their learning would progress. But are they actually going to log in?'
To that end, the team developed 15 different types of intervention emails featuring things like planning prompts, teaching tips, learning goals, digital swag and celebrity endorsements. The goal was to change behavior without mandates, bans or substantial financial incentives — though teachers were enrolled in a giveaway and earned digital raffle tickets every time they opened an email, increasing their chances of winning such prizes as autographed children's books, stickers and gift cards.
The researchers then compared the average number of lessons the teachers' students completed on the Zearn Math platform over four weeks to a control group using Zearn that received only a simple weekly email.
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So did it work? Did the emails prompt teachers to log in more regularly? And if so, did the number of lessons their students completed increase? To some degree, yes, it did work. But not at all to the extent that Duckworth and researchers had anticipated.
The best-performing intervention, which encouraged teachers to log into Zearn Math for an updated report on how their students were doing that week, produced a 5% increase in students' math progress. Emails that referenced data specific to a teacher's students — versus those without that information — boosted students' progress by 2.3%. And teachers who received any of the behaviorally informed email nudge saw their students' math progress increase by an overall average of 1.9%
Duckworth was sure that the emails featuring famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and literary rockstar Judy Blume would move the needle more than anything else. But teachers were virtually unaffected.
'We had sexier treatment conditions,' she said. 'But no, it turns out, a simple message that says, 'Hey, your students' data are here, remember to log in,' that is what worked the best.'
Notably, the intervention effects were consistent across school socioeconomic status and school type, both public and private. Moreover, they persisted for eight weeks after the email intervention period ended. Collectively, the reminders resulted in students completing an estimated 80,424 additional lessons during the four weeks their teachers received emails, and an estimated 156,117 additional lessons during the following eight weeks.
Yet the limited impact of the email reminders surprised virtually everyone involved with the study: Students whose teachers received any type of behaviorally-informed email reminder only marginally outperformed students whose teachers received a simple email reminder. In fact, the effect was at least 30 times smaller than forecasted by the behavioral scientists who designed interventions, by Zearn Math staff and by a sample of elementary school teachers.
'It's a sober reminder that big effects are very rare,' said Duckworth. 'In general, we're finding in our megastudies and what's emerging across the social sciences is that intervention effects tend to be very small.'
'One of the things that this megastudy has reinforced is a kind of humility about how complicated human beings are and how challenging it is to durably change behavior. A kid is a complicated organism. Teachers are complicated. Schools are complicated,' she continued. 'It would be naive to think that you could radically change behavior with these like light touch interventions.'
The findings not only underscore the difficulty of changing behavior, but also the need, Duckworth said, for large-scale, rigorous, empirical research on how to drive impact in math, which is a high-priority subject for education policy experts at the moment.
Indeed, the findings come at an inflection point for math in the U.S.
The most recent release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that, nationally, average mathematics scores in 2024 were lower by 3 points among fourth-grade students and lower by 8 points among eighth-grade students compared to their scores in 2019 – the most significant drop since 1990. School districts have struggled to rebound after significant academic setbacks incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. For math in particular, by the spring of 2022, the average public school student in grades three to eight had lost the equivalent of a half-year of learning.
Compared to students in other developed countries, Americans have ranked in the bottom 25% of students globally on standardized tests of mathematics for decades. U.S. students saw a 13-point drop in their 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment math results when compared to the 2018 exam — 'among the lowest ever measured by PISA in mathematics' for the U.S., according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which administers the exam.
As a result, a contentious debate has erupted surrounding whether educators are effectively teaching the subject — and whether they themselves are being effectively taught how to teach it.
'There was a dawning realization that there's a real urgency around math achievement in the United States,' Duckworth said when her team decided to design the megastudy. 'This very light touch nudge was helpful, but it does underscore how hard behavior is to change. And if there are bigger levers to influence teacher behavior, I think we would have found a bigger downstream effect on student achievement.'
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Yahoo
13-06-2025
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Study from math learning platform shows difficulty in motivating teachers to change behaviors
Like an online retailer trying to woo a customer back by offering a 10% discount on the boots they've been eyeing, education researcher Angela Duckworth wanted to understand how to incentivize teachers to log in regularly to an online math platform that aims to help them improve their students' academic performance. 'Today is perfect for checking your Pace Report!' 'Keep Zearning!' 'By opening this email, you've earned another 100 digital raffle tickets in the Zearn Math Giveaway!' In partnership with Zearn Math, a nonprofit online math instruction platform used by roughly 25% of U.S. elementary school students, Duckworth and a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Behavior Change for Good Initiative launched a megastudy, published in March 2025, that peppered 140,000 teachers with different email prompts to log into the platform's dashboard each week and check their students' progress. Behavioral scientists like Duckworth, who popularized the 'power of grit' about a decade ago, spend a lot of time trying to pinpoint what, exactly, it is that prompts an individual to sign a form, become an organ donor or click an ad that promises a secure and safe retirement now. 'In the case of education there's the idea of nudging the students directly,' Duckworth said. 'But there's also the idea that's less commonly studied, which is, what do you do to nudge the teachers, who are not in complete charge, but have a lot of authority about what is going to happen in the classroom that day? It was clear to us that if we could get the students onto the Zearn platform that their learning would progress. But are they actually going to log in?' To that end, Duckworth and the team developed 15 types of intervention emails featuring things like planning prompts, teaching tips, learning goals, digital swag and celebrity endorsements. The goal was to change behavior without mandates, bans or substantial financial incentives — though teachers were enrolled in a giveaway and earned digital raffle tickets every time they opened an email, increasing their chances of winning such prizes as autographed children's books, stickers and gift cards. The researchers then compared the average number of lessons the teachers' students completed on the Zearn Math platform over four weeks to a control group using Zearn that received only a simple weekly email. So did it work? Did the emails prompt teachers to log in more regularly? And if so, did the number of lessons their students completed increase? To some degree, yes, it did work. But not at all to the extent that Duckworth and the researchers had anticipated. The best-performing intervention, which encouraged teachers to log into Zearn Math for an updated report on how their students were doing that week, produced a 5% increase in students' math progress. Emails that referenced data specific to a teacher's students — versus those without that information — boosted students' progress by 2.3%. And teachers who received any of the behaviorally informed email nudge saw their students' math progress increase by an overall average of 1.9% Duckworth was sure that the emails featuring famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and literary rockstar Judy Blume would move the needle more than anything else. But teachers were virtually unaffected. 'We had sexier treatment conditions,' she said. 'But no, it turns out, a simple message that says, 'Hey, your students' data are here, remember to log in,' that is what worked the best.' Notably, the intervention effects were consistent across school socioeconomic status and school type, both public and private. Moreover, the impact persisted for eight weeks after the email intervention period ended. Collectively, the reminders resulted in students completing an estimated 80,424 additional lessons during the four weeks their teachers received emails, and an estimated 156,117 additional lessons during the following eight weeks. Yet the limited impact of the email reminders surprised virtually everyone involved with the study: Students whose teachers received any type of behaviorally informed email reminder only marginally outperformed students whose teachers received a simple email reminder. In fact, the effect on both Zearn Math staff and a sample of elementary school teachers was at least 30 times smaller than the behavioral scientists who designed the interventions forecasted. 'It's a sober reminder that big effects are very rare,' Duckworth said. 'In general, we're finding in our megastudies and what's emerging across the social sciences is that intervention effects tend to be very small.' 'One of the things that this megastudy has reinforced is a kind of humility about how complicated human beings are and how challenging it is to durably change behavior. A kid is a complicated organism. Teachers are complicated. Schools are complicated,' she continued. 'It would be naive to think that you could radically change behavior with these like light touch interventions.' The findings not only underscore the difficulty of changing behavior, but also the need, Duckworth said, for large-scale, rigorous, empirical research on how to drive impact in math, which is a high-priority subject for education policy experts at the moment. Indeed, the findings come at an inflection point for math in the U.S. The most recent release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that, nationally, average mathematics scores in 2024 were lower by 3 points among fourth-grade students and lower by 8 points among eighth-grade students compared to their scores in 2019—the most significant drop since 1990. School districts have struggled to rebound after significant academic setbacks incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. For math in particular, by the spring of 2022, the average public school student in grades three to eight had lost the equivalent of a half-year of learning. Compared to students in other developed countries, Americans have ranked in the bottom 25% of students globally on standardized tests of mathematics for decades. U.S. students saw a 13-point drop in their 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment math results when compared to the 2018 exam — 'among the lowest ever measured by PISA in mathematics' for the U.S., according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which administers the exam. As a result, a contentious debate has erupted surrounding whether educators are effectively teaching the subject — and whether they themselves are being effectively taught how to teach it. 'There was a dawning realization that there's a real urgency around math achievement in the United States,' Duckworth said when her team decided to design the megastudy. 'This very light touch nudge was helpful, but it does underscore how hard behavior is to change. And if there are bigger levers to influence teacher behavior, I think we would have found a bigger downstream effect on student achievement.' This story was produced by The 74 and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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13-06-2025
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From English to Automotive Class, Teachers Assign Projects to Combat AI Cheating
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Opinion: The Road to Educational Equity: Can Ed Tech Solve the Digital Divide?
In a nation where ZIP codes often determine opportunity, the promise of educational equity remains out of reach for millions of students. Despite years of reform, the link between a child's environment and their academic outcomes still remains. Today, as schools integrate digital tools into everyday learning, a new dimension of inequality has come into focus: access to technology. While some students benefit from personalized platforms and high-speed connectivity, others are still left behind, struggling to participate in a system that increasingly assumes digital access. The debate is no longer whether ed tech can improve education, but whether it will reach those who require it the most. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The integration of technology into classrooms has the potential to improve learning, but only if access is universal. In reality, disparities in broadband connectivity, device availability, and digital literacy continue, especially in rural and low-income regions. A 2024 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts indicates that 43% of adults earning less than $30,000 annually lack broadband access, and nearly half of households making under $50,000 struggle to afford internet services. This leads to a 'homework gap' that disproportionately impacts students in excluded communities, limiting their ability to complete assignments and engage with digital learning resources. Beyond infrastructure, the challenge extends to technology deployment. Schools with more resources can invest in training educators, curating high-quality digital content, and supporting students with tailored interventions. In contrast, under-resourced schools may lack the technical assistance and instructional direction required for effective ed tech integration. Without thoughtful implementation, technology risks becoming a superficial fix rather than a meaningful equalizer. To bridge the gap, tech access should be treated as a foundational right, not a privilege. That means investing in affordable internet for all households, making sure every student has access to a reliable device, and providing the support systems that make digital learning meaningful and accessible. Ed tech, when designed and deployed with equity in mind, can be an effective tool to close learning gaps. AI-powered and gamified learning platforms, for example, offer the ability to personalize content to meet students where they are, regardless of age, ability, or background. Adaptive platforms, for instance, are able to recognise when a student is behind and make real-time material adjustments. Through milestones and rewards, gamified modules can keep students motivated. This is especially helpful for students who might otherwise lose interest in a strict, one-size-fits-all approach. These features can have a particularly significant effect on classrooms with a variety of learning demands but a small number of teachers. Too often, though, innovative learning technologies are piloted in affluent districts with the budget and infrastructure to support them, while the students who could benefit most remain out of reach. Without targeted strategies to expand access and usage, ed tech risks strengthening the very disparities it aims to address. True equity means creating educational technology that represents the diversity of the learners themselves. This includes considering various cognitive styles, linguistic backgrounds, and cultural situations. Platforms should offer multilingual support, dyslexia-friendly fonts, sensory-sensitive modes for neurodiverse kids, and culturally relevant material. Without these design considerations, ed tech may inadvertently exclude the very students it aims to uplift, even when devices and internet access are available. The answer lies not just in the tools themselves, but also in how and where they are deployed. Equity-focused implementation requires a commitment to both access and impact –- ensuring students can use the technology, and that the technology truly supports their learning journey. Related This is not a challenge educators can tackle alone. It requires coordinated action from policymakers, district leaders, nonprofit partners, and the tech community itself. Public investment should prioritize infrastructure development in under-served areas, such as expanding broadband coverage and subsidizing device distribution. Equally important is funding for professional development, helping teachers integrate digital tools into their pedagogy in ways that are culturally responsive, developmentally appropriate, and aligned with academic goals. At the policy level, educational equity must be embedded into procurement decisions, funding formulas, and accountability frameworks. Leaders must ask not just whether technology is available in schools, but whether it is making a measurable difference for students who have historically been left behind. Collaboration across sectors is critical. Nonprofits can help support communities in navigating the digital learning landscape. Tech providers can design solutions with accessibility and inclusion built in from the start. And local governments can act as conveners — aligning resources, reducing duplication, and ensuring families are supported beyond the school day. There is no silver bullet to educational inequity, but there is momentum. Across the country, districts are experimenting with community Wi-Fi programs, public-private partnerships, and learning models that prioritize flexibility and student engagement. These efforts prove that with the right intentions, innovation and inclusion can go hand in hand. What's needed now is sustained commitment. We should resist the temptation to view ed tech as a short-term fix or an optional add-on. Instead, it must be approached as a core element of a broader equity agenda, one that prioritizes student outcomes, not just new tools. Ed tech holds enormous promise, but only if we build systems that ensure its promise reaches every student. That starts with recognizing that the digital divide is not just a tech problem, it's an equity problem. And equity is something we must design for from the beginning.
