{"id":813772,"date":"2026-05-22T04:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/813772\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T04:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:23:04","slug":"mamdani-launches-elementary-school-math-curriculum-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/813772\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani launches elementary school math curriculum overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

New York City will soon require elementary schools in four local districts to use city-approved math curriculums, one of the first education initiatives under Mayor Zohran Mamdani outside of early childhood.<\/p>\n

The announcement Thursday marks the first time elementary school math teachers will be required to shift their instruction as part of the city\u2019s broader curriculum mandate<\/a>. Schools in Manhattan District 5, Bronx Districts 11 and 12, and Queens District 25 will be required to make the shift by this fall.<\/p>\n

Elementary schools across all of the city\u2019s 32 local districts will eventually be required to use approved math curriculums, though officials did not lay out a timeline. Officials also revealed the latest wave of middle schools that will be required to use approved reading and math curriculums.<\/p>\n

The new elementary school curriculum mandate will use versions of the same curriculums the city mandated in middle schools.<\/p>\n

The $17.3 million effort represents an expansion of a major initiative to overhaul reading and math instruction that began under former Mayor Eric Adams and which Mamdani signaled he would continue on the campaign trail. The mayor has yet to unveil a more detailed education agenda.<\/p>\n

School leaders have long been allowed to choose their own materials, leading to variation in instructional approaches from school to school. On some campuses, teachers write their own curriculums. City officials argue that created uneven quality in instruction and complicated efforts to train teachers at scale. Now, Education Department leaders contend they are ensuring schools are using materials that are rigorous. <\/p>\n

Chancellor Kamar Samuels, who got his start as a middle school math teacher<\/a>, has hinted for months that changes were on the horizon to the city\u2019s curriculum overhauls, known as NYC Reads and NYC Solves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely need to get elementary school math teachers into the conversation,\u201d Samuels told educators affiliated with the advocacy group Educators for Excellence, at a meeting in March where they pressed him on expanding the curriculum overhaul. \u201cUndergirding our system is a lot of fear in math.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Education Department has previously pointed to standardized test scores as a reason to rethink the way schools teach reading and math. Roughly 57% of New York City public school students were considered proficient in math and 56% in reading in grades 3-8, according to last year\u2019s state tests<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Curriculum overhauls have sparked debate<\/p>\n

Some educators and parents have embraced the curriculum changes while others have pushed back, arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach can stifle innovative approaches to instruction that attract families to their schools. <\/p>\n

There have also been complaints about the specific curriculums city officials have mandated and concern that there hasn\u2019t been enough public input in selecting them. The city\u2019s most widely used reading program, for instance, favors excerpts over whole books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s teachers union, which supported the reading curriculum mandate, has been more wary of the math changes<\/a> and criticized the decision to make changes to elementary school math.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DOE has not solved the problems of NYC Solves,\u201d United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement. \u201cChanges that educators have called for from the beginning have not been made, and the holes in the curricula have not been filled.\u201d<\/p>\n

All middle schools are in the process of transitioning to approved reading and math curriculums, which officials previously said would happen by fall 2027. High schools are already required to use a common Algebra 1 curriculum called Illustrative Mathematics, which has garnered mixed reactions from teachers. Beginning this fall, elementary schools in District 5 will use i-Ready Mathematics Classroom; Districts 11 and 12 will use Illustrative Mathematics; and District 25 will use Amplify Desmos Mathematics.<\/p>\n

The decision to approve i-Ready as the primary math curriculum across many elementary and middle schools may raise eyebrows. The private equity-backed education technology platform, widely used in New York City and across the country, has faced criticism from some families and educators<\/a> amid a wider backlash over tech in schools. <\/p>\n

Asked about potential concerns with selecting i-Ready, First Deputy Chancellor Danielle Giunta said that \u201chas not [been] flagged as an implication to the core program and implementation, but should something arise, we will respond accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the elementary school reading changes, which were made in part because hundreds of schools used curriculums that were discredited, Giunta said the math overhaul was prompted by successful rollout of common curriculum materials in other parts of the system. \u201cThere is so much energy from our superintendents, our principals,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Officials are also considering expanding the curriculum mandate to include high school English classes, Giunta said, though there is not yet a timeline for that. For now, city officials are focusing on beefing up targeted instruction for students who are behind in reading in four of the city\u2019s 11 high school districts. <\/p>\n

Questions resurface about parent engagement<\/p>\n

Some parent leaders said they were unaware elementary school math curriculum changes were in the works, despite promises from Mamdani to incorporate parent and educator feedback in education policy decisions. One member of the community education council in Manhattan\u2019s District 5, which includes Harlem, said they had not been consulted about the elementary school math curriculum changes. (The council member spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.)<\/p>\n

Jonathan Collins, another District 5 parent and member of the city\u2019s Panel for Educational Policy, said he had also not heard community discussion about elementary school math overhaul. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are questions as to whether or not this engagement process really reached the street level,\u201d Collins said. Still, he said is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about the elementary school math changes.<\/p>\n

Advocates who have pushed the city to require more schools to adopt common curriculum materials cheered the move to expand to elementary school math. <\/p>\n

Elementary school math instruction is \u201cfractured and fragmented across the system,\u201d said Evan Stone, the CEO of Educators for Excellence. He added: \u201cIf we actually want to build coherence in a system, we need to be training teachers on a core set of curriculum materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s announcement also included expansions to reading and math mandates at the middle school level in a slew of districts, which have been incrementally rolling out over multiple years<\/a>. Manhattan District 2 and Brooklyn District 18 will use the Wit & Wisdom reading curriculum.<\/p>\n

Middle schools in the following districts will be required to use a city-approved math curriculum: Manhattan District 3; Bronx District 9; Brooklyn Districts 16, 21, 22, and 23; and Queens Districts 24, 27, 28, and 30. Officials did not respond to a question about which curriculums those districts will use.<\/p>\n

Educators and families: Let us know what you think of the curriculum changes by emailing us at ny.tips@chalkbeat.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":813773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[297718,5229,330476,221265,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,104744,291761,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-813772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-3-k","tag-america","tag-garden-school","tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-pre-k","tag-schools-chancellor-kamar-samuels","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116616325195161454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}