NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS RELEASES CITYWIDE RESULTS FOR STATE ASSESSMENT

NEW YORK – New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) today published citywide results for the 2026 state assessment. Individual results have been shared with principals, and families can expect to receive student results on Monday. 

Across grades 3 through 8, citywide scores increased by 0.1 percentage point in math and declined 6 percentage points in English Language Arts (ELA). The ELA results follow last year’s 7-point increase. Given these unprecedented year-to-year fluctuations in student proficiency, and concerns over major scoring gains and losses across a short period of time, New York City Public Schools has begun a deeper analysis of the results. 

The changes are not unique to New York City. School districts across New York state saw declines in performance regardless of student population, resources or instructional approach. The statewide 2026 assessment results can be found here. 

In 2023, NYCPS took the transformative step of launching NYC Reads, a research-centered, phonics-based approach to literacy instruction grounded in the science of reading. Since its launch, superintendents and school leaders have used state assessment results alongside literacy screeners, implementation data, classroom evidence and ongoing feedback from teachers, school leaders, parents and partners to evaluate progress and strengthen instruction. For the 2025-26 school year, literacy screener data continues to show encouraging progress, including year-over-year gains across every student demographic. While achievement gaps remain and more work is needed to ensure every child becomes a confident reader, the data also shows those gaps narrowing, with particularly strong gains for Black and Latino students in reading and math, especially in grade 8. 

“Reading opens doors—and worlds—for children. For far too long, our school system has fallen short of its responsibility to help young New Yorkers become confident readers. NYC Reads marked a turning point in our commitment to ensuring every child gets the evidence-based instruction they deserve,” said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. “Across the nation, we’ve seen transformative literacy rates using the pedagogy we know works, and we will continue to pursue that same approach. As we review these initial statewide results, and what they mean for our students, we will focus on better understanding the scoring process to use this data with confidence and make the best decisions for our students." 

“School leaders across New York City are seeing dramatic swings in literacy proficiency reflected in this year’s state assessment results,” said Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels. “Our goal remains universal literacy, and we are staying the course with NYC Reads and the science of reading. Our educators also rely on nationally normed screeners to understand students progress, tailor instruction and provide additional support where it’s needed. These results raise important questions and deserve careful, rigorous analysis so we can ensure we’re measuring what students are learning.” 

DATA 

Full data set can be found here. 

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