In a city as large and complex as New York, there’s no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to education. Transforming a system that serves millions of students requires sustained effort, clear vision, and, most importantly, patience. Unfortunately, history shows that political leaders too often give in to impatience, reversing successful initiatives or making promises that never reach the classroom.
For this reason, it would be a grave mistake to allow NYC Reads — the most ambitious and promising literacy initiative in the city’s history — to become another casualty of this cycle. As NYC Public Schools’ new chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, begins her first full year of leadership, and with a looming United Federation of Teachers (UFT) election in the spring, the stakes have never been higher.
The city’s current and future leaders must commit to the long-term vision of NYC Reads and address the literacy crisis where two-thirds of Black and Latino students are not reading at grade level.
A new report and survey of hundreds of educators, “Reading Between the Lines: Teacher Perspective on NYC Reads Implementation,” demonstrates why doubling down on NYC Reads is critical. Educators have positive feedback on their new curricular materials, and those in their second year of implementing NYC Reads report greater confidence and more success in the classroom compared to those in their first year, highlighting that more time and support lead to greater teacher buy-in and better outcomes for students.
Abandoning NYC Reads amid signs of promise, would be a disservice to teachers, students, and families.
Similar curricular shifts across the country reveal that success in education takes time. States such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina, saw reading scores surge after many years of hard work. Research supports these examples, suggesting it can take up to five years for large curricular changes to yield positive results with some student performance dips in the early stages of a new curriculum.
New York City cannot afford to give up now. Leadership must stay committed to the long-term goal of making its schools the best place for students of all backgrounds to learn how to read.
It’s fair to argue that patience has a dark side: complacency. Overly patient leaders risk failing to meet immediate classroom needs. But suggesting that patience is complacency in just the first 18 months of NYC Reads is both premature and misguided. The city has actively engaged stakeholders to improve the rollout, and Aviles-Ramos has already demonstrated a willingness to make adjustments while preserving the curriculum’s integrity.
Further improvements such as those that support diverse learners and strengthen professional learning need to be prioritized over political pressures, even when immediate results are elusive. Without a steadfast commitment to long-term transformation, the city risks reverting to a failed system that frustrated countless parents and educators.
Others may argue that NYC Reads is not necessary or is an overreach. But this view ignores the facts. Prior to NYC Reads’ implementation, only 38% of New York City educators reported that their curricula were high-quality and aligned with learning standards. This negatively impacted student achievement, as fewer than half of third-grade students were proficient on 2023-2024 state exams, with even larger disparities for Black and Latino students.
The consequences of failing to provide children with strong foundational reading skills are profound and long-lasting. Students who don’t master reading by third grade are more likely to struggle in other subjects or even drop out of school, leading to limited job opportunities and reduced economic mobility.
Returning to the previous broken system would be irresponsible. Instead, city leadership should double down on NYC Reads, expand its reach to other grade levels, and ensure that more students benefit from high-quality literacy instruction paired with professional learning for educators.
The coming year will be pivotal. As the chancellor settles into her leadership role and with a looming UFT election, decisions made now will determine whether New York City’s education system improves or falls back into the cycle of abandoning progress too soon. City leaders must remember: there is no quick fix and transforming education takes time.
New York City’s current and future leadership must continue its commitment to NYC Reads. It’s time to invest in the city’s future by providing all students with the literacy skills they need to thrive. The stakes are too high, and the opportunity too great, to back down now.
Divanne is the executive director of Educators for Excellence-New York, a teacher-led organization. Benjamin-Gomez is the executive director at EdTrust-New York.
