More than 400,000 New York City public school students are attending institutions where a majority of their peers fail to meet state proficiency standards in math or reading, according to a report released by the charter school network Success Academy. The analysis, based on state education data for the 2024-2025 school year, found that 906 schools across the city's five boroughs — nearly half of all public schools — recorded fewer than half of their students passing state math or reading exams. In 503 of those schools, the majority of students failed both subjects.
The report paints a stark picture of systemic underperformance in a district that spends approximately $40 billion annually on public education, or about $36,293 per pupil — roughly double the national average. Researchers at Success Academy argued that despite this level of funding, the city's public school system has delivered mediocre results for decades. «Despite New York City’s international reputation as an economic power and cultural influencer, the city’s public school system, funded at twice the average rate of other American school districts, has struggled for decades to deliver results that at best are mediocre,» the report states.
The findings come after the New York State Education Department released its own assessment data for grades 3 through 8, which showed that 57% of students were deemed proficient in math and 53% met proficiency standards in English Language Arts. State officials characterized these results as showing «meaningful signs of improvement.» However, Success Academy's analysis focused on school-level performance rather than district-wide averages, revealing that a significant number of individual schools continue to struggle. The report also highlighted a persistent truancy crisis, with approximately 35% of all New York City public school students — roughly 300,000 children — classified as chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of required school days.
The report sharply criticized how the city allocates its education budget. «The city is now committed to billions more to fund a class-size mandate that the evidence does not support, while propping up hundreds of vacant schools that drain resources at a premium rate with no return,» the report states. «Meanwhile, the students most harmed by this failure attend the same schools that have been failing since before many of them were born.» Success Academy representatives said their staff spent months analyzing public records, including NYSED accountability data dating back to 2012, school quality reports, expenditure files, and standardized test results, to compile the findings.
The New York State Education Department pushed back against the report's conclusions. In a statement, a spokesperson said, «It is the New York State Education Department’s responsibility to meet schools where they are so that every student — regardless of zip code — has an opportunity to succeed. Success Academy’s report is a vehicle to detract from its attempts to circumvent the New York City charter cap and promote its academic achievements by comparing one limited data sample to another.» The department noted that its assessment and accountability data has always been publicly available and that it has worked to improve accessibility for families and educators through online report cards. The spokesperson also pointed out that there was no assessment data in 2020 and limited data in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the report did not fully acknowledge.
An official from New York City Public Schools also responded, calling the report «riddled with misdirections, misinformation and allegations not based in fact.» The official emphasized the district's responsibility to educate all students, including those new to the city, learning English, or with disabilities. «We are proud of the gains that have been made in reading and math across schools and demographics this past year, the strides that have been made in preparing students for success after graduation and the head start we are delivering for thousands of children across the city through universal child care,» the spokesperson said. The official added that school leaders and educators across every borough are doing honest work every day.
Success Academy, which operates its own network of charter schools in New York City, has touted its own academic performance. The network ranked first in New York State for math proficiency in grades 3 through 8, with a 96% pass rate, and second statewide in English Language Arts, with a 92% pass rate. The report's authors argue that the city's traditional public schools could learn from such models, but critics contend that charter schools serve a different student population and should not be directly compared. The debate over school performance, funding, and accountability continues to be a central issue for New York City's education system, affecting hundreds of thousands of families.
