How did the pandemic affect your NYC school’s state test scores? Find out here.
New York City officials released state test scores on Wednesday, offering the first glimpse of how the pandemic affected student learning. Compared with 2019, the last time tests were administered normally, reading proficiency among students in grades 3-8 ticked up 1.6 percentage points to 49%. But math scores plunged 7.6 percentage points, with just shy […]
NYC overhauls high school admissions, leaves middle school changes up in air
In a major shift for high school admissions, eighth graders from across the five boroughs with course grades in the top 15% of their class last year will have priority in scoring seats at some of New York City’s most selective high schools, Chancellor David Banks said Thursday. Middle schools, meanwhile, will once again be […]
Schools scale back home internet help as remote learning fades
With students off Zoom and back in classrooms, many schools have stopped helping students get online at home, new federal data shows. Just 45% of public schools are providing home internet access to students who need it this school year, down from 70% earlier in the pandemic, according to August survey data released Tuesday by […]
With COVID aid, schools try something new: giving students jobs
Kelly King was able to do something this summer she’d never been able to before: pay students to help others. King, who works for the school district on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, used federal COVID aid to hire three rising high school seniors to staff a booth at a riverside park. There, as crowds flocked to […]
After his brother died by suicide, this teacher changed how he talks to students about mental health
Every day at the start of his classes, Nick Orr, a high school science teacher in Nevada, said he checks in with his students about their mental health. It’s a practice Orr said he began doing after his own brother Anthony died by suicide shortly after graduating high school in 2020. Orr said Anthony’s death […]
NYC drops vaccine mandate for student athletes and extracurriculars
Students who participate in a range of extracurricular activities including sports will no longer face a COVID vaccine requirement, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday, ending the only mandate that applied to public school students. In August 2021, the city announced that students participating in “high risk” extracurricular activities must be vaccinated against the coronavirus, a […]
Staffing shortages continue to plague schools, data shows
More than half of public school principals participating in a national survey reported being understaffed as classes started in August, according to federal data released Tuesday that come as another sign of persistent employee vacancies in schools. Sixty percent of those grappling with the issue said they were contending with open support-staff positions, since the […]
Where are New York state test results? Here’s what we know.
After multiple years of pandemic disruptions to student learning, there is little data on how New York City students have fared. City officials refused to release the results of their own assessments of student performance last year. And while the state education department sent standardized test results in reading and math to local school districts […]
