{"id":987339,"date":"2026-08-07T19:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T19:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/987339\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T19:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T19:03:16","slug":"nyc-reading-scores-fall-sharply-including-14-point-drop-in-third-grade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/987339\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC reading scores fall sharply, including 14-point drop in third grade"},"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

Reading scores sank in New York City last school year, with a nearly 14 percentage point decline among third graders, according to preliminary data released Friday.<\/p>\n

Among students in grades 3-8, about half were proficient in reading, a decline of 6 percentage points. That nearly erases a 7 percentage point spike the year before. Math scores were flat, with 57% of students considered proficient.<\/p>\n

The declines in reading proficiency were most pronounced in grades 3-5. In addition to the dramatic decline in third grade, fourth grade scores fell nearly 6 percentage points, and fifth grade scores fell by 13 points.<\/p>\n

The unusually steep drop in reading proficiency comes as the city is heading into its fourth year of a major shakeup in literacy instruction<\/a>. All elementary schools are required to use approved curriculums that officials contend line up with the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how children learn to read. A growing number of middle schools are in the process of adopting new reading curriculums, too.<\/p>\n

City officials vowed to conduct an analysis of the sharp fluctuations in reading scores. <\/p>\n

\u201cSchool leaders across New York City are seeing dramatic swings in literacy proficiency reflected in this year\u2019s state assessment results,\u201d schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in a statement. \u201cThese results raise important questions and deserve careful, rigorous analysis so we can ensure we\u2019re measuring what students are learning.\u201d<\/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

City officials noted that the state test scores diverged from the city\u2019s own periodic assessments, which generally showed improvements in reading.<\/p>\n

Test scores alone can\u2019t prove whether a policy is working because many factors influence them. But city officials pointed to a dramatic 7 percentage point spike last year as evidence the new reading programs are paying dividends<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The reading proficiency declines mirror a similar 5 percentage point drop across the state<\/a>. Some testing experts told Chalkbeat this week that whipsawing scores are unusual and raise questions about whether there are irregularities in the exams.<\/p>\n

EdTrust-New York, an advocacy group, called for an independent audit of the last three years of state testing data. \u201cNYSED never adequately investigated or explained last year\u2019s dramatic gains, making this year\u2019s reversal difficult to interpret,\u201d the group said in a statement earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has vowed to double down on the literacy and math curriculum overhauls launched by his predecessor. In May, he announced plans to expand the math curriculum mandate into elementary schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/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":987340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13978,10911,395986,3577,395987,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,6215,15689,6214,148948,67016,22598,101432,1229,18103,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-987339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-book","tag-class","tag-john-p-freeman-optional-school","tag-memphis","tag-memphis-shelby-county-schools","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-reading","tag-student","tag-students","tag-summer-school","tag-teacher","tag-teachers","tag-tenn","tag-tennessee","tag-tests","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117055783366870996","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987339","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=987339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}