Close to Half of New York City Schools Are Failing, New Report Says
In 503 schools, majority of students failed both math and reading
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani (right) and his schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, in a June 22 video congratulating New York public school students on what they called “another incredible year.” (Screenshot via the mayor’s Facebook account.)
Ira Stoll
July 7, 2026
Nearly half of New York City public schools are failing to get a majority of their students to pass standardized tests measuring math and reading, even though the city is spending about twice as much money on the schools as other districts do, a devastating new report from the Success Academy charter school network says.
Success Academy founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz, a former chair of the New York City Council's education committee, is billing the report as "profoundly shocking" and "the most complete accounting of school failure in New York City ever assembled." At 35 pages, with an additional 11 appendices, it tells the grim story of how 409,379 public school students, 43 percent of the city's total, are in failing schools.
New York is by far the largest public school district in the United States. Failing schools there have far-reaching effects on the workforce, electorate, and business climate in the nation's largest city.
https://freebeacon.com/education/close-to-half-of-new-york-city-schools-are-failing-new-report-says/
