More than 40% of grammar school students in the city failed the state\u2019s standardized math and reading texts this year \u2014 but officials praised some gains in the results released Monday.<\/p>\n
More city public school in grades 3-8 passed the proficiency tests this year for English Language Arts and math than they did last year though critics contended those are small victories as the Big Apple\u2019s school spending tops $41 billion and the state\u2019s $36,293 per pupil tab<\/a> is the highest in the nation.<\/p>\n Some 56.3% of students met the proficiency standards for ELA, up 7.2-percentage points from the 49.1% who passed in 2024, according to the data.<\/p>\n More than 40% of New York City public elementary school students in grades 308 failed teh state\u2019s standardized math and reading tests this year. mehmet \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Students making the grade in math bumped up 3.5-percentage points since 2024, from 53.4% to 56.9%, according to the figures.<\/p>\n Both pass percentages outpaced the state average while city reading and math scores increased across all grades. The largest gains were in Grade 3, which saw ELA increase by 12.9 percentage points, and Grade 6, which jumped 15 points, the figures showed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a positive that everything got better,\u201d said Danyela Souza, an education research fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a policy think tank. \u201cIt seems there\u2019s real progress in reading, particularly in grades 3 and 5. That\u2019s huge gains we\u2019re seeing,<\/p>\n She praised the phonics-knowledge based NYC Reads curriculum.<\/p>\n But Souza said it\u2019s hard to tell if students have recovered from learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic because the cut-off scores to pass have been lowered.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easier now to pass than five years ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mayor Adams said the progress is a result of the \u201cNYC Reads\u201d and \u201cNYC Solves\u201d programs. Stephen Yang for the New York Post<\/p>\n The city\u2019s gains mirror the ELA proficiency pass rate for all grade 3-to-8 students statewide, which jumped from 46% to 53% over the past year. The pass rate for math increased from 52% to 55%, according to the numbers.<\/p>\n