{"id":158282,"date":"2025-08-19T11:38:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/158282\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T11:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:38:21","slug":"city-leaders-must-also-pass-their-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/158282\/","title":{"rendered":"City leaders must also pass their test"},"content":{"rendered":"

As backpacks unzip and classrooms reopen, New York City students are returning to school riding a wave of historic gains in reading and math, which is no accident, as dedicated educators are leading high-quality instruction efforts through the city\u2019s\u00a0NYC Reads<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0NYC Solves<\/a>\u00a0initiatives.<\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s headlines told the story. Students showing proficiency on state tests\u00a0jumped seven points in reading and three in math<\/a> \u2014 a historic and nationally significant leap. Increases in third and fifth-grade reading were particularly staggering: 13 and 15 points. And, these results were just the latest evidence supporting a case already being built.<\/p>\n

Local screener data<\/a>\u00a0revealed 2.5-point gains in reading, especially among our youngest learners and students with disabilities, while\u00a0educator surveys from last school year<\/a>\u00a0confirmed growing confidence in the curriculum and strong support for these shifts.<\/p>\n

Yet, one more pivotal and urgent test looms this coming school year. It\u2019s whether the city\u2019s leaders, especially with a mayoral election on the horizon, have the vision and leadership to sustain and expand this progress.<\/p>\n

Building on NYC Reads and NYC Solves must be treated as non-negotiable, not just by parents, students, and educators, but by every New Yorker invested in the city\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

What happens next will decide if we close achievement gaps or allow them to widen, if years of advocacy and millions in public investment are leveraged or lost, and if New York City has the political will to follow through on meaningful change, especially for Black and Latino students.<\/p>\n

Before these initiatives,\u00a0two-thirds<\/a> of Black and Latino students weren\u2019t proficient in reading or math. Classrooms lacked standard instructional materials, leaving many teachers to cobble together lessons from outdated, low-quality resources and local districts unable to run centralized professional learning.<\/p>\n

The old decentralized, free-for-all approach didn\u2019t work then<\/a>, and it won\u2019t work now. The research is clear: student achievement rises when schools adopt\u00a0high-quality curricula<\/a>\u00a0paired with sustained,\u00a0aligned professional learning<\/a>. States like\u00a0Mississippi<\/a>,\u00a0Tennessee<\/a>, and\u00a0North Carolina<\/a>\u00a0have proven this model works, and New York is proving it too.<\/p>\n

So what should city leaders do? First, strengthen the initiatives by acting on educator feedback to improve implementation, especially through professional learning that meets diverse student needs. Next, sustain them by baselining funding so progress can\u2019t be undone on a whim. Finally, expand them so all students, in every grade, share in the gains underway.<\/p>\n

Some may argue these shifts undermine teacher autonomy. But when educator feedback is leveraged as part of the process \u2013 as it has been to date with the rollout of\u00a0new pacing guidance<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0expansion to more grade levels<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 it does the opposite. It empowers educators.<\/p>\n

The curriculum provides a shared foundation for what to teach while preserving the freedom for educators to bring their strategies, creativity, and deep knowledge of their students. True equity requires a coherent, teacher-led approach backed by high-quality tools and professional development, not leaving teachers isolated without the resources and tools to do their job.<\/p>\n

Others may champion literacy while downplaying math. That\u2019s a mistake. Math underpins everyday skills \u2014 budgeting, cooking, making sense of statistics and what they tell us about the world \u2014 while driving career readiness in science, technology, and engineering. Research shows<\/a>\u00a0middle school math proficiency is a gateway to advanced coursework, graduation, college enrollment, and higher earnings. The national erosion of math skills could cost hundreds of billions in future earnings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And for those who try to dismiss the gains made thus far as the product of unrelated factors, look closer.\u00a0Schools with earlier, sustained implementation saw the biggest jumps<\/a>. Educator\u00a0confidence grows the longer they use the programs<\/a>. The alignment of research, on-the-ground experience, and student results makes it clear: NYC Reads and NYC Solves are driving this progress.<\/p>\n

Anything short of building on these initiatives wouldn\u2019t just be a political misstep. It would be a serious betrayal of the city\u2019s students and its future. The research, educator surveys, data points, and test results all indicate progress.<\/p>\n

But now comes the real test: whether current and future leaders have the conviction to double down on what\u2019s working and the leadership to take it further.\u00a0As the new school year approaches, it\u2019s a test New York City cannot afford to fail.<\/p>\n

Divanne is the executive director of Educators for Excellence\u2013New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As backpacks unzip and classrooms reopen, New York City students are returning to school riding a wave of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":158283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,1269,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-158282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-opinion","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115055238124795339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158282","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=158282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}