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Top Stories
Big Spending, Little Results
NYC DOE projected to spend $42k per student this school year — the most in the country
NY Post, 8/30/2025
The city Department of Education will spend a staggering $42,168 per student this school year, budget experts project, even as enrollment declines and student achievement stalls. The record sum is nearly $2,000 per student more than the DOE spent last year, according to the nonprofit think tank Citizens Budget Commission…The stunning figure is 36% more than the $31,119 the city spent per pupil just five years ago.
…“No parent I know would associate that level of spending with the quality of education or even lunch food our kids are getting in NYC schools,” said Yiatin Chu, co-president of PLACE NYC, a parent group that advocates for increased rigor in city classrooms.
Worst for the Best
The best high school in NY has no gym, no auditorium and no cafeteria
Families for New York, 8/23/2025
…this week, U.S. News & World Report released its list of the best public high schools in the country, highlighting the exceptional education offered by New York’s Specialized High Schools (SHS), which primarily serve low-income students…Among the top 25 public high schools in the country, the only representative from New York is Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, which serves 66% low-income students.
Despite this impressive record, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College is housed in inadequate facilities. For 23 years, the Department of Education has neglected to provide better accommodations. The school boasts a 100% graduation rate, 100% participation in Advanced Placement exams, and a 99% pass rate on at least one AP test. However, it has no gym, auditorium, and cafeteria.
DOE Leadership Changes
NYC schools chancellor taps veteran insiders to fill leadership departures
Chalkbeat, 8/27/2025
As two of the New York City school system’s most senior leaders step down, Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos has tapped a pair of Education Department veterans to take their place.
Dan Weisberg, the school system’s second-in-command, is being replaced by Isabel DiMola, the longtime superintendent of District 21, which includes Coney Island and Brighton Beach.
ICYMI
Will Zohran Mamdani Kill the Best Thing About New York City Public Schools?
Reason, 6/26/2025
With Zohran Mamdani projected to win the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, his slate of socialist-influenced policies, from city-owned grocery stores to a rent freeze, are one step closer to reality. Mamdani’s socialist agenda won’t stop with housing policy or the minimum wage. It will also hit America’s largest public school system and aim to kill the best thing about it.
…Over the years, Mamdani has stated that he would also attempt to ditch the admissions test. “As a graduate of Bronx Science, I have personally witnessed just how segregated New York City public schools are, especially our specialized high schools,” he said in a 2022 interview. “I support measures to integrate our public schools and fully fund our education system, including the abolition of the SHSAT.”
Advocacy Corner
Petition for Queens SHS
Grant a New Building for Queens High School for the Sciences at York College (QHSS)
QHSS School Community
“We, the students, families, staff, and supporters of Queens High School for the Sciences at York College (QHSS) respectfully call attention to the urgent need for improved facilities and a new school building.”
Elections Coverage
‘Giddy’ Republicans cheer Mamdani’s impact on Democrats
Politico, 9/1/2025
Eric Adams again denied public matching funds in NYC mayoral campaign while Zohran Mamdani, Curtis Sliwa reap millions
NY Post, 8/28/2025
These 11 New Yorkers Aren’t Sure Who They’ll Back for Mayor. Here’s What They’re Looking For.
City Journal, 8/21/2025
Despite Zohran Mamdani’s past anti-cop stance, socialist still leading NYC mayoral race, poll shows
NY Post, 8/21/2025
Bill de Blasio and his former aides are advising Zohran Mamdani — and clamoring to get back to City Hall
NY Post, 7/11/2025
Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application
NY Times, 7/3/2025
Other Headlines
The War on Knowledge
The Free Press, 8/31/2025
The Elite College Myth
Wall Street Journal, 8/29/2025
The Easy A
The Perverse Consequences of the Easy A
The Atlantic, 8/28/2025
During their final meeting of the spring 2024 semester, after an academic year marked by controversies, infighting, and the defenestration of the university president, Harvard’s faculty burst out laughing. As was tradition, the then-dean of Harvard College, Rakesh Khurana, had been providing updates on the graduating class. When he got to GPA, Khurana couldn’t help but chuckle at how ludicrously high it was: about 3.8 on average. The rest of the room soon joined in, according to a professor present at the meeting.
They were cracking up not simply because grades had gotten so high but because they knew just how little students were doing to earn them.
Shortsighted Vision How the NYS Regents’ Equity Agenda Distorts Public Education
Manhattan Institute, 8/28/2025
Too Rich for College Aid, Can’t Afford Full Price: How One Family Made It Work
Wall Street Journal, 8/22/2025
2025-2026 Best U.S. High School Rankings
US News & World Report, 8/19/2025
The Big Reveal
These NYC High Schools Made The State’s Top 25, New Report Says
Patch.com, 8/19/2025
The U.S. News & World Report has released its latest rankings on the best high schools, and many in New York City made the list.
- The 2025-2026 Best High School Rankings, released Tuesday, includes specialized STEM and charter rankings alongside the traditional state, district, and metro area categories.
Nearly 24,000 public high schools were evaluated, and nearly 18,000 were ranked.
Billionaires Backing Woke Math Doesn’t Add Up Amid DEI Rollback
RealClear Investigations, 8/19/2025
What is redshirting? The controversy for parents’ rights causes stir in Washington, DC
USA Today, 8/12/2025
Lowering Testing Standards
More students pass after NY adjusts test scoring
Times Union, 8/12/2025
After the passing score was adjusted, more than half of the students in grades 3 through 8 reached proficiency in English and math. In English, 53% of the students met the proficiency standard, up from 46% last year. In math, 55% of the students were considered proficient, up from 52% last year.
But the state lowered the score needed to reach proficiency, especially for third and fourth graders. On the English test, third graders had to get at least 57% of the points possible to reach proficiency. Fourth graders had to get a minimum of 56% of the points to hit the same measure, which is known as Level 3.
New York Should Not Repeat Chicago’s Education Mistakes
City Journal, 8/7/2025
Columbia and Brown to Disclose Admissions and Race Data in Trump Deal
NY Times, 8/6/2025
In Search of Parents
Public Schools Try to Sell Themselves as More Students Use Vouchers
NY Times, 8/5/2025
A decline in the number of babies being born and a boom in private school vouchers and home-schooling have combined to create an enrollment crisis for public education.
The threat is so great that some school districts are trying something that would have once seemed unthinkable.
What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones
The Atlantic, 8/4/2025
Precalculus Is the Fastest-Growing AP Course. That’s Reshaping K-12 Math
EdWeek, 7/31/2025
Manipulated Math Path
The Algebra Gatekeepers: How schools deny advanced math to their highest-scoring students
Center for Educational Progress, 7/29/2025
In the early to mid-2000s, these grant-funded program evaluations began requiring measurable objectives and pre- and post-data comparisons. During this period, federal grants aimed at getting more low-income and minority students into advanced STEM courses became a common trend.
These program evaluation requirements led to a striking discovery. Tens of thousands of high-scoring students in North Carolina were not enrolled in advanced math courses…More often than not, they were told by their math departments that they couldn’t enroll these students because students needed a teacher recommendation.
How Do Kids in Top-Spending States Perform on NAEP? Not as Well as You’d Think
The 74 Million, 7/29/2025
Soft ‘restorative justice’ discipline policy a bust in NYC public schools — as police incidents balloon to 4,200 this year: study
NY Post, 7/24/2025
Broken Narrative
The Cost of Restorative Justice in New York City Schools
Manhattan Institute, 7/24/2025
New York City’s public school system has changed how it addresses student misconduct over the last decade. Once reliant on traditional disciplinary measures such as suspensions, removals, and written referrals, the NYC system instead adopted restorative justice (RJ) as its preferred response to conflict and disruption.
…NYC’s implementation of RJ has failed to achieve its promises. The changes undermined teacher authority and weakened classroom order rather than improving school climate and advancing equity. They diverted resources away from necessary supports, despite the tens of millions in spending on ideologically driven programs, with little evidence of success.
NYC Public Schools announce cellphone ban for upcoming school year. Here’s what to know
CBS New York, 7/24/2025
Teachers Unions Turn on ADL
Nation’s largest teachers’ union votes to endorse proposal that would cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League
CNN, 7/23/2025
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, has endorsed a proposal to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights group focused on combatting antisemitism, according to an NEA spokesperson.
The proposal, titled New Business Item 39, was preliminarily adopted by union delegates at the 2025 Representative Assembly, which took place in Portland, Oregon, on July 5.
Corrected: As Math and Reading Proficiency Went Up, ‘Cut Scores’ Went Down
Empire Center, 7/21/2025
Zohran Mamdani’s plan to undo mayoral control of NYC schools would be ‘terrible mistake,’ experts warn
NY Post, 7/20/2025
Social Scorecard for Admissions
Elite Colleges Have Found a New Virtue for Applicants to Fake
NY Times, op-ed by Alex Bronzini-Vender, 7/15/2025
Though the court would no longer allow colleges to screen applicants for race per se, they would probably still be allowed to ask applicants how race had shaped their lives.
…This fall, an expanding number of top schools — including Columbia, M.I.T., Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt and the University of Chicago — will begin accepting “dialogues” portfolios from Schoolhouse.world…
High-schoolers will log into a Zoom call with other students and a peer tutor, debate topics like immigration or Israel-Palestine, and rate one another on traits like empathy, curiosity or kindness. The Schoolhouse.world site offers a scorecard: The more sessions you attend, and the more that your fellow participants recognize your virtues, the better you do.
In Ruling’s Aftermath, Some See Beginning of the End for Department of Education
The 74 Million, 7/15/2025
NY approves ‘portrait of a graduate’ as Regents exams are on the way out
Chalkbeat, 7/14/2025
A STEP back
NY scraps race-based STEM program after Asians claim discrimination: ‘Progress!’
NY Post, 7/14/2025
State education officials have scrapped New York’s race-based admissions policy for advanced STEM classes for middle- and high-school students after a lawsuit by Asian parents, The Post has learned….But while black, Hispanic and Native American students could apply regardless of family wealth, Asian and white schoolkids needed to meet certain income criteria — indicating they are economically challenged — or be excluded.
A federal lawsuit filed in January accused New York of engaging in blatant discrimination against Asian and white students under the program.
U.S. food makers are still using dyes linked to hyperactivity in kids. Parents want them banned.
Chalkbeat, 7/14/2025
Does Common Core Math expect memorization?
Fordham Institute, 7/13/2025
Ability Grouping Success
Grouping Students by Ability Transformed Our School. Could It Do the Same for Yours?
Center for Educational Progress, 7/12/2025
When I wrote about Ellis Elementary’s shift to grouping students by reading ability instead of grade level for The 74, I had no idea how far that story would travel. I didn’t expect lengthy “comment section” conversations or thoughtful questions landing in my Inbox from educators, administrators, and policymakers across the country. It was clear that people were curious and hungry for a blueprint for how we did it.
This follow-up piece is just that: the nuts and bolts of how we made this work at Ellis, and how it might work at your school, as well. It’s for everyone who has asked about the logistics, policy flexibility, cultural shift — and the inherent challenges behind our success.
Furious NYC educators will stop funding UFT’s political arm to protest Mamdani endorsement
NY Post, 7/12/2025
The People Who Wrecked N.Y. Schools Love Zohran Mamdani
Reason, 7/10/2025
Back to Arts
NYC art schools see record-high application numbers as Gen Zers clamber to enroll
Gothamist, 7/8/2025
Fine arts programs in New York City are receiving record-high applications even though many have hefty tuition costs and creative careers are notoriously hard to attain.
The surge comes as many young adults grapple with fears about the impacts of artificial intelligence, a sense of internet overload and a desire to reconnect with the physical world.
NYC reading scores inch up. Is Eric Adams’ curriculum overhaul working?
Chalkbeat, 7/7/2025
‘Alarming’ Prospect
Ex-‘Squad’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman could become NYC schools chancellor under Zohran Mamdani: sources
NY Post, 7/3/2025
Former “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman could land on the shortlist to be the city’s next schools chancellor if his pal Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor, sources told The Post.
A source close to United Federation Teachers said the former middle school principal’s name is already circulating within the Mamdani camp as a potential candidate to head the nation’s largest public school system with more than 900,000 students in 1,596 schools.
Bowman — who infamously pulled a fire alarm in a congressional office building and delayed a key House vote — was voted out of office by Democrats in a party primary last year.
Zohran Mamdani’s education agenda would set New York City up for failure
The Hill, 7/6/2025
Harvard Graduate School of Education shuts down DEI office
GBH, 7/3/2025
City to launch first Albanian bilingual class this fall
Spectrum, 7/1/2025