Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks Celebrate Two Years of Record Achievements in Education

NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Public Schools Chancellor David C. Banks today unveiled their vision for the future of the city’s public schools with the launch of “NYC Solves,” a major citywide initiative to make mathematics more accessible for all students and the creation of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL) to serve multilingual learners, newcomers, and students with disabilities. As part of the announcement, the Adams administration celebrates two-years of record achievements in delivering for students, families, and school communities. 

Some highlights include:

Reimagining the Student Experience

• NYC Reads (Birth–5) & Academic Excellence
  • Based on mid-year implementation checks, in nearly 4,000 Phase 1 classrooms: 
    • 98 percent of classrooms have Tier 1 curricula materials present, visible, and in use.  
    • 52 percent of classrooms are making substantial curriculum-based. instructional shifts and 24% were implementing at an advanced level. 
    • In 2024-2025, all 32 school districts and District 75 will have adopted a science of reading aligned curriculum, 415+ high schools will have adopted a high-quality algebra curriculum. 
    • 100 percent of early childhood programs and schools implemented a singular developmental screener and over 90 percent of the early childhood portfolio elected to be in cohort 1, implementing a singular assessment system and curriculum.
  • 2023 math test score proficiency increased 12 percent and ELA proficiency increased 3 percent compared to the previous year. 
• Career Pathways
  • Students have earned $8.2 million from paid work experiences at top companies. 
  • Secured Northwell Health and Google as anchor partners in signature pathways program. 
  • 40 percent growth in high schools offering high quality career pathway initiatives , including 100 schools through FutureReadyNYC.
  • Received a $25 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to open Northwell School of Health Sciences, a health-focused high school.
• Dyslexia
  • Opened the first ever public school dedicated to supporting students with dyslexia and other print-based learning disabilities with ~40 students in the inaugural class 
  • For kindergarten through 9^th grade, we continue to conduct universal screening three times per year – the first-time it’s ever been done –  to help monitor student progress and identify students at risk for dyslexia, and teachers are being trained in proven interventions for children at-risk of dyslexia. 
  • Dyslexia screening is taking place in four schools within District 79 Juvenile Justice and four schools in Adult Education. 
• New Schools
  • Announced the opening of nine new schools for the 2024-2025 school year.  
  • Opened two new accelerated high schools in the Bronx and Brooklyn.  

• Special Education
  • Expanded access by adding 1,000 specialized program seats for students. 
  • Published first report by the Chancellor’s Special Education Advisory Council.  
  • Partnered with Special Olympics NY to offer unified sports for over 2,100 students with and without disabilities.  
  • Expanded the SEED program for students with sensory needs to 79 sites across all 5 boroughs, serving over 3,600 students.  
  • Opened and operated 6 Saturday Academy sites to provide related services and small group academic interventions for over 1,000 students. 
  • Impartial hearing due process case backlog dropped from 145 days on average to 87, with dramatic increases in case closure. 
  • Developed a three-district pilot model to offer high quality programs with successful student outcomes close to students’ homes (12 Horizon, 8 AIMS, and 4 NEST programs across 3 districts), adding 160 new seats for incoming autistic kindergarteners. 
    • In addition to the pilot expansion, citywide, added 30 Horizon, 27 Nest, and 3 AIMS classes (over 380 seats).
• Hidden Voices
  • Launched Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora in all schools  
  • Launched Hidden Voices: AAPI 
  • Launched Hidden Voices: LGBTQI+
  • Announced Hidden Voices: Jewish American, Hidden Voices: Muslim American

Scaling, Sustaining, and Restoring What Works

• School Funding
  • Invested nearly $1.5 billion in our schools, including: 
    • Mayor Adams invested over $600 million in new funding to protect critical programs that were funded with temporary stimulus dollars while districts across the country are facing the stimulus cliff by laying off staff, canceling programs, and shutting down schools. 
    • In partnership with a diverse community-driven working group, made the Fair Student Funding Formula even more equitable and added $100 million to school budgets, by adding weights for students in temporary housing and schools with concentrated need. 
    • Increased schools' budgets by over $200 million in state aid which can be used to support reduced class sizes. 
    • School budgets saw an increase of over $600 million related to Collective Bargaining for teachers and principals.
• Gifted & Talented
  • Added 57 Gifted & Talented programs with kindergarten and 3rd Grade entry points. This includes 8 new kindergarten Gifted & Talented programs in districts that never had access to Gifted & Talented programming at this grade level before. 
• Labor Contracts
  • Cemented new labor contracts that keep New York City Public Schools competitive for talent nationwide. 
  • After 8 years, teachers can make over $100,000 a year. 
  • Teacher retention is nearly 95%.
  • Increased starting salary by $11,279 to $72,349, and a top salary of $151,271. 
• Early Childhood Education
  • Teaching and Learning
    • A brand-new Leadership Coach role was established, providing consistent data-driven coaching to every early childhood leader. 
    • Implementation tool conducted in 100 percent of 3K and Pre-K programs/schools engaged in cohort one.
  • Increasing Family Access to High-Quality Birth-to-Five Early Childhood Education
    • Increased 3-K applications by over 10,000 to approx. 43,000. 
    • Over 7,000 infant, toddler, 3-K and Pre-K early childhood seats were shifted and/or converted across the five boroughs to meet family need.
    • Over 800 special education seats were created based on actual children’s need and over 6,500 special education seats were stabilized and maintained. 
    • Replaced expiring stimulus funds for sustainable funding. 
• Students in Temporary Housing
  • Hired 100 Shelter-Based Coordinators to increase supports for students and families who are temporarily housed. 
• Students in Foster Care
  • Launched a brand-new Office of Foster Care, which includes 9 dedicated personnel who specialize in supporting this vulnerable population of students in foster care.
• Community Schools
  • Extending contracts for 324 community schools for an additional 2-3 years. 
  • Implemented supports for families through food pantries, English as a Second Language classes, laundry rooms, clothing donations, immigration services, and GED classes. 
  • Replaced expiring stimulus funding for sustainable funding. 
• Facilities Investments
  • Added over 26,000 classroom seats through major construction and modernization projects.
  • Invested $10 million in community-driven facilities enhancements in one of our neediest communities, District 23 in Brownsville. 
  • Reopened and upgrade 7 pools. 
• Climate Work: Cleaner buildings and buses, climate leaders
  • Currently have 14 electric vehicles in use, and our vendors have received grants in the amount of $125 million for a total of 394 buses.  
  • Completed 90 solar installations for a total of 19.7 megawatts (81 percent of the total installed solar on city buildings); an additional 109 sites are in design or construction. 
  • Expanded Curbside Composting service to all K-12 schools across the city.
• Student Transportation
  • Launched the NYC School Bus App, in partnership with Via. 
• NYC Kids Rise
  • 200,00+ New York City Public Schools students have NYC Scholarship Accounts, including nearly every K through 2nd grader in public school with more than $30 million accumulated.
• School Food
  • Partnered with Wellness in the Schools to launch Chefs in the Schools in Fall 2023, which is a menu development and chef training program that collaborated with 544 schools this year resulting in the addition of Kachumber Salad, Roasted Adobo Chickpeas, Pineapple Rice Medley,  Kelewele Plantains and Caribbean Jerk Chicken. 
  • Completed 88 Cafeteria Enhancement Experience this year, bringing the total to 251.  
  • Certified 22 Halal sites during 23-24 SY, bringing the total number to 110 Certified Halal sites.

Prioritizing Wellness and its Link to Student Success

• School Safety
  • As of June 9, 2024 there has been a decrease of 14 percent in overall incidents, according to NYPD CompStat. 
• NYPD Coordination
  • Principals meet with precinct captains weekly.  
  • Collaborated with NYPD Training Unit to introduce training for NYPD officers on addressing and supporting students with special needs.
• Meeting the Moment Agenda
  • Launched a comprehensive plan to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate with its “Meeting the Moment” agenda.
  • Provided professional learning, materials, and resources to help educators address the issues of the day. 
  • Clarified NYCPS’s approach to discipline and reporting for students and staff. 
  • Created the first Interfaith Council. 
  • Offered anti-discrimination workshops to parent leaders. 
  • Announced the creation of new Hidden Voices resources celebrating Jewish- and Muslim-Americans 
  • Testified in front of the United States Congress about the importance of tolerance and leadership to “Meet the Moment” in our public school systems.
• Project Open Arms
  • Welcomed approximately 40,000 new students in temporary housing since July 2022.  
  • Created borough response teams to support newcomer families access resources 
  • Provided free dental screenings, free vision screening and glasses. 
  • Created a pathway for educators with bilingual certification credentials to maintain tenure if they choose to use this credential  
  • Began a shared table program that allows schools to donate untouched food to local pantries.
• Project PIVOT
  • In school year 2023-2024, 315 vendors provided direct services to the 257 Project PIVOT schools supporting approximately 25,000 students, with another 220 vendors providing indirect services.  
• Safer Access Initiative
  • As of June 7, 2024 New York City Public Schools has completed a total of 487 Safer Access installations in our schools.  
  • Timeline projection is phase 1 completion by this summer and phase 2 completion by end of calendar year.
• Promoting Mindful Breathing in Schools
  • During the 2023-24 school year every New York City public school began integrating mindful breathing practices into daily instruction. 

Engaging Families to be our True Partners

• Enrollment
  • Saw a 1 percent increase in enrollment (~8,000 students) -- the first increase in eight years.
• Mayoral Accountability
  • Won renewal of mayoral accountability twice in three years. 
• Fund for Public Schools
  • Biggest fundraising year in the history of the Fund with over $50 million raised.  
    • Secured a $25 million grant for new best in class health care career-focused high school - the single largest grand in Fund history. 
• Parents as Partners in NYC Reads 
  • FACE Literacy Hubs: opened 17 Literacy Hubs in local businesses across the city.  
  • FACE Reading Ambassadors: graduated the first cohort of 1,137 parents who will build literacy skills with the children in their communities.  
• Beyond Access Series / IEP Parent Member
  • Expanded opportunities for parents to support other families through the IEP process, more than doubling the number of IEP Parent Members from 61 to 145 
    • Increased registration to the Beyond Access series for families from ~8,200 to ~29,000 in one year, boosting awareness and understanding of special education-related topics.
• Community Engagement on Policy
  • Engaged the Class Size Working Group over the course of 2023, resulting in over 50 proposed recommendations to implement the class size law. The recommendations informed NYCPS’ draft Class Size Reduction Plan for school year 2024-2025. 
    • Engaged the Fair Student Funding Working Group, which resulted in changes to the Fair Student Formula formula, adding a weight for Students in Temporary Housing and a Concentration Weight, which provided $100 million more to school budgets.
    • Focused on addressing the “Disparity within the Disparity:”
      • Spending on Black-and Hispanic-Owned Enterprises as a portion of total spending increased 282 percent and 204 percent, respectively. 
• Increasing work with Minority/Women-Owned Businesses and Enterprises
  • Continue to have significant increase in MWBE utilization: 
    • Fiscal Year 2022: $349 million. 
    • Fiscal Year 2023: $535 million an increase of 53.4 percent in the first full Fiscal Year of the Adams administration.  
    • Fiscal Year 2024: is on pace to exceed $700M which is approximately 27 percent increase.