Reading test scores climbed seven points for New York City public school students who took state exams in the spring, a substantial increase over previous years that comes after efforts to change the way students learn to read.
About 56 percent of students in grades three through eight showed proficiency on the reading tests, the school system announced on Monday. Mayor Eric Adams framed the results as a prime accomplishment in educating the city’s children as he runs for re-election.
The improvement in the nation’s largest school system comes two years after Mr. Adams’s administration overhauled how elementary students are taught to read. Experts, though, cautioned against attributing the results to a single initiative, saying that it takes years of intense effort to achieve sustained improvement from reading reforms.
The improvement was especially large for third-grade students, a crucial benchmark because children who cannot read well by then are more likely to drop out of high school and live in poverty as adults. About 58 percent of third-graders showed proficiency in reading, a nearly 13-point rise from the year before.
The higher test scores could buttress Mr. Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, against political attacks on his schools record. His administration has faced criticism over cuts to education funding and its management of the city’s popular free preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Despite the increase overall, the results revealed the persistence of inequality. While about 73 percent of white and 75 percent of Asian test-takers showed reading proficiency, roughly 44 percent of Hispanic and 47 percent of Black children were proficient.
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