Nearly half of New York City’s public school students attend schools where fewer than half of students are proficient in math, reading, or both, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Success Academy Charter Schools network.
The report, titled “By Any Honest Measure,” found that 906 public schools—serving approximately 43% of the city’s 912,000 students—failed to have a majority of students pass state math and English exams last year. Of those schools, 503 had a majority of students fail both subjects.
Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz called the report the most comprehensive review to date of consistently low-performing schools in New York City.
The report argues that widespread academic failure has become “normalized” and is being masked by grade inflation, weakened accountability standards, and increased funding for struggling schools.
New York City spent approximately $40 billion on public education in 2024, or $36,293 per student—roughly double the national average. According to the report, many of the lowest-performing schools receive more than $40,000 per student.
The analysis found that 34% of elementary school students, 49% of middle school students, and 62% of high school students attend schools where most students fail state exams.
Among the report’s criticisms is that student grades are based largely on participation, attendance, and effort rather than standardized test performance. It also notes that nearly all teachers receive satisfactory evaluations because New York no longer factors student test scores into teacher ratings.
“98% of teachers effective. 43% of students failing. The math doesn’t add up,” the report states.
The report also accuses the New York State Education Department of lowering proficiency benchmarks on state exams over the years, arguing that federal testing continues to show significantly weaker student performance.
Additional criticism was directed at state policies limiting the expansion of charter schools, maintaining funding for under-enrolled schools, and implementing class-size mandates despite declining enrollment.
The New York State Education Department rejected the report, arguing that it was designed to support Success Academy’s push to lift the cap on charter schools in New York City. The department said student performance data is publicly available and noted that pandemic-related disruptions affected testing in 2020 and 2021.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
6 Responses
Hey, when 73.4% of the NYC public schoolers aren’t from America/ English-speaking homes, what d’ya espect. Pass by any public schoo at disimissil time and yooz gonna see the YOUnited Nayshins. That’s where our tax dollars are being spent. Even young children in hijabs etc. Just look at the parent body and you could brech. All our tax dollars being wasted as per the article’s research.
Especially from a socialist perspective, the success of a school is measured by the economic well being of the staff (especially the non-managerial staff). As long as the union members (voluntary or not, remember its a closed shop) are paid well, and their dues money is flowing to keep the politicians well financed, they are a success.
It would be nice if students got a good education, but that would just be the icing on the cake.
@Yaapchik: your post is disgusting. This has nothing to do with who the parent or student body is. This has to do with the quality of public school education.
Ummmmmmm and what percentage of Yeshivos are failing??
I taught math for a year in NYC public school at one point. I’m not saying all the teachers are great, but the real problem is the students. Students don’t do homework, most don’t try to succeed, they don’t care what grades they get because they are promoted no matter what they do. I had one boy in freshman algebra who was still doing arithmetic by counting on his fingers. How can anyone teach him to do algebra? I had another student who did make an effort to learn, but he was frequently beaten up for acting “too white” until he went with the program and gave up on academics. I had students on probation who needed paperwork from me for their probation officers.
Common sense would say to ignore the curriculum and teach students where they were. If that means teaching middle elementary school math rather than high school math, well at least they might learn something. But rules gave no real latitude on curriculum. There was a required curriculum with daily required topics and deadlines for covering the material whether students understood it or not. Exams and assignments needed approval. There was just no way for a teacher to succeed.
Randi Weingarten is above reproach.