Overview
- The Success Academy report released Tuesday, July 7, 2026, finds 409,379 New York City public school students—about 43 percent of the district—attend 906 schools where a majority failed state math or reading exams.
- An appendix names 503 'double-fail' schools that did not reach majority pass rates in both math and English, and the report says roughly one third of the 906 schools have cycled through failure lists for more than a decade.
- Authors highlight rising costs as a contrast to outcomes, citing $40 billion spent in 2024—about $36,293 per pupil—and argue higher per-student spending has not produced higher proficiency.
- The analysis points to chronic absenteeism (about 35 percent of students in 2023–24), high test opt-out rates and a 2015 regulatory shift in state language as practices that can obscure poor results and weaken accountability.
- The report urges policy changes such as tying evaluations to student results, ending social promotion, making assessments mandatory and expanding charter access, a set of proposals likely to deepen the political clash between charter advocates, unions and city and state officials.