When it comes to listing favorite subjects in school, math is rarely first. In fact, American students have struggled with math for years — consistently landing in the bottom 25% globally.

The pandemic set kids’ math progress back even more. Now, a study led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Behavior Change for Good Initiative, offers a cost-effective solution using something almost all of us are familiar with: the ever-humble, oft-ignored email.

Researchers tested small, behavioral science-based interventions aimed at teachers, sending tailored emails to over 140,000 teachers of more than 3 million students.

One intervention had teachers make detailed plans for using learning platforms, while another urged them to tap into their empathy for their students and their respective academic progress in math.

Upon analysis, the data showed a modest but promising 1.9% improvement in math scores over a four-week period.

The most effective intervention, however, turned out to be encouraging teachers to check personalized student progress reports every week via a learning platform, which boosted math scores by 5%. The takeaway? Personalization works. When teachers were reminded about their own students’ progress, the results were better than when they received generic messages.

Though the improvements were small, the research pointed to how personalized, behaviorally informed nudges could be an affordable, effective way to support teachers and improve student outcomes in one tough subject.

In short, a little nudge could go a long way in helping our students finally catch up … if not to love math itself.