NYC Test Scores Soar, But Achievement Gaps Tell a More Complex Story

The Achievement Gap Reality

Yet the celebrations obscure troubling disparities that worsened even as overall scores climbed. Only 27% of students with disabilities achieved reading proficiency and 29% in math—and the gap between these students and their non-disabled peers actually widened despite the overall gains.

Vast racial achievement gaps persist beneath the aggregate improvements. While 75% of Asian American students and 73% of white students demonstrated reading proficiency, only 47% of Black students and 43.5% of Latino students met standards. In math, the disparities prove equally stark: 81% of Asian and 75% of white students passed compared to just 43% of Black and Latino students.

This means that despite the 8-point gain celebrated for Black students, the majority—53%—still don’t meet grade-level reading standards. For Latino students, 56.5% remain below proficiency thresholds.

“The headline numbers look great, but when you dig into the disaggregated data, you see that we’re still failing huge numbers of children—particularly our most vulnerable students,” says Laura Buckley, an education researcher and advocate. “A rising tide that lifts some boats while others sink further isn’t the success story being sold to the public.”

Questioning Causation and Implementation

Columbia University Professor Aaron Pallas, who studies school performance, cautions against premature conclusions about what drove the improvements. New York State overall experienced substantial gains during the same period—without mandating curriculum changes. The state’s increases occurred at similar magnitude to NYC’s, suggesting broader factors may be at play beyond the city’s specific initiatives.

“These results are encouraging, but they’re suggestive rather than definitive,” Pallas noted. “If there’s real growth, it should be sustained. And that requires looking at scores over the next couple years.”

The city also mounted aggressive test preparation efforts targeting students near proficiency thresholds, which could artificially inflate short-term gains. State tests themselves underwent a series of modifications making year-over-year comparisons challenging.

While NYC Reads has won support from the teachers union, educators report mixed experiences with the rollout. A February 2025 survey by Educators for Excellence-New York found that over two-thirds of teachers need supplementary materials beyond the approved curricula to meet diverse learner needs. Only 55% of Phase 1 teachers reported feeling confident teaching the curriculum to on-grade-level students—and confidence levels were even lower for Phase 2 teachers at 38%.

Cross-Cutting Investments and Looking Forward

The test score improvements occurred amid substantial educational investments beyond curriculum changes. NYC implemented class size reduction requirements with $182 million in funding, distributed 350,000 internet-enabled Chromebooks closing digital divides, and invested heavily in teacher compensation and professional development. These concurrent initiatives make isolating the specific impact of curriculum mandates challenging.

NYC plans full implementation of NYC Reads and NYC Solves in all middle schools by the 2027-2028 school year, with Spring 2025 expansion already adding the initiatives to 186 additional schools across 14 districts, totaling over 490,000 students benefiting.

But educational equity advocates emphasize that aggregate improvements mask ongoing failures for vulnerable populations. Nearly three-quarters of students with disabilities still don’t meet basic proficiency standards. More than half of Black and Latino students remain below grade level despite improvements. Achievement gaps in some categories widened rather than narrowed.

“We can’t declare victory while massive achievement gaps persist and actually grow for our most vulnerable kids,” Buckley argues. “The question isn’t whether some students are doing better—it’s whether our educational system serves all students equitably. And on that measure, NYC still has tremendous work ahead.”

As the 2025-26 school year progresses, the true test will be whether gains prove sustained and whether the benefits extend beyond aggregate statistics to reach every student, regardless of disability status, race, or socioeconomic background.