More than 900 New York City public schools do not have a majority of students passing state reading and math tests, according to a scathing new report.
That means more than 400,000 of New York City’s public school children are enrolled in institutions where fewer than half of the students passed math, reading, or both on state exams.
“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,” researchers at Success Academy, a New York City-based charter school network, wrote in the report.
According to the findings, 906 schools—representing nearly half of all public schools across the five boroughs—saw fewer than half of their students pass state math or reading exams last year.
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“Those 906 schools enroll 409,379 students: 43 percent of all NYC public school children. In 503 of those schools, the majority of students failed both math and reading,” the researchers added.
The Success Academy report comes after the New York State Education Department (NYSED) released 2024-2025 test score data for grades 3–8, claiming that the assessment results showed “meaningful signs of improvement.” The state’s official report card indicated that 57% of third-through-eighth graders were deemed proficient in math, while 53% met proficiency standards in English Language Arts (ELA).
Critics point to the city’s massive educational budget relative to its performance. New York City spent approximately $40 billion on public education for the 2024 fiscal year, which translates to a nation-leading $36,293 per pupil in the district — roughly double the national average.
The report sharply criticized city officials’ allocation of those resources.
“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 claims that these specific findings have never been assembled before. Representatives for the charter network told Fox News Digital that their staff spent months analyzing primary public records, including NYSED accountability data dating back to 2012, alongside NYC school quality reports, expenditure files, and standardized test results.
Compounding the city’s academic hurdles is a persistent truancy crisis. Approximately 35% of all New York City public school students — roughly 300,000 children — were flagged as “chronically absent” during the school year, meaning they missed at least 10% of required school days, according to the report.
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The NYSED sent Fox News Digital the following statement responding to Success Academy’s findings.
“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,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The Department’s assessment and accountability data has always been available to the public, the spokesperson added.
“NYSED has continually modified its reporting tools and data presentations to improve accessibility and usability for families, educators, and community stakeholders through the school report card which is publicly available on the NYSED website,” the official continued.
“These enhancements were designed to make complex information more understandable and meaningful. Additionally, the report fails to acknowledge that there was no assessment data in 2020 and significantly limited data in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
An NYC Public Schools official also responded to Success Academy’s report, arguing that the report “is riddled with misdirections, misinformation and allegations not based in fact.”
“At New York City Public Schools, we have the privilege and responsibility of educating every child who comes through our doors — students new to our city, learning English for the first time, students with disabilities who haven’t received the care they need elsewhere, and students struggling in their classes, who need a teacher who refuses to give up on them,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The official went on to say, “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. This is the true honest work that school leaders and educators in every borough are doing every day, and we are proud to stand by them.”
Earlier in the year, Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz touted her network’s own academic metrics. Success Academy ranked first in New York State for math proficiency in grades 3–8 in recent state exams, with a 96% pass rate. The K-12 charter network also placed second statewide in ELA with a 92% pass rate, trailing the affluent Scarsdale Union Free School District by just a single percentage point.
Moskowitz told Fox News Digital that researchers intentionally reviewed the performance metrics of every school in the city to provide a comprehensive baseline comparison against other districts.
