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School District 25’s fall assessments in Queens, New York showed slight progress in reading and math, but more than 60% of students still failed to meet standards. The school district will strengthen supports for students who are falling behind in learning and are absent from class.
queens number 25school District The Education Committee (CEC25) held a regular meeting on the evening of the 4th. School District Superintendent Michael Dantona announced the results of fall assessments for the new school year. He said students’ reading and math abilities have improved, but many still do not meet grade standards. Even though the overall attendance rate is the best in the city, some students are often absent from class. They also proposed improvement targets for next year and planned to strengthen support for students who are falling behind in learning and have inadequate attendance.
According to benchmark assessments in the fall of the 2026–2027 school year, 57.2% of students met proficiency standards on the Acadians reading test, an increase of 1.3 percentage points from the same period in 2025; The i-Ready Reading Test compliance rate was 38.4%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from previous comparative data; The i-Ready math compliance rate was 33.9%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points. This means that despite improvements in overall performance, more than 60% of students still do not reach the respective standards on the i-Ready reading and mathematics assessments.
There are also gaps between different groups of students. Reading assessments from kindergarten to second grade saw slight improvements from the previous school year for overall students, students with individualized education programs (IEPs), and multilingual learners, but some indicators declined slightly for African American and Hispanic students. Reading assessments of students in grades three through eight showed that all groups generally improved compared to the previous school year, with students several grades lower lagging behind in reading ability.
For younger students, the district focuses specifically on building a foundation in reading. For example, kindergarten students need to learn to identify the sounds at the beginning of a word, and first grade students need to be able to decompose a word into different sounds. By second grade, they need to master spelling unfamiliar words, read fluently, and be able to restate content in their own words after reading an article. The school district hopes to break down test results to find out where students are struggling, rather than waiting until senior grades are clearly lagging behind before intervening.
To this end, the school district has set improvement goals by June 2027 that are expected to increase reading compliance rates for all students in kindergarten through eighth grade by 5 percentage points and by 10 percentage points for African-American, Hispanic and special education students. For English language learners, they expect a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of students improving at least one level on the New York State English Proficiency Test (NYSESLAT). In math, the district also expects to increase overall student achievement rates by five percentage points and 10 percentage points for African Americans, Hispanics, special education and English language learners.
Apart from studies, attention is also paid to whether students come to school every day or not. School District 25 currently has a total attendance rate of 95.7%, ranking third among New York City school districts, and the third lowest chronic absenteeism rate in the city. However, there are still 12.7% students whose attendance rate is only 90% or less, meaning that one in every eight students remains absent from class to the point of concern.
The school district’s plan requires each school’s attendance and student support team to review attendance records each week to identify students who are frequently absent from school, understand the reasons why they are unable to attend school regularly, and then provide support to students and families on an individual basis with the goal of reducing chronic absenteeism to 4% by June 2027.
Summary FAQ
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Overall, District 25 showed improvement in reading and math skills, but the extent was limited. Acadians’ reading compliance rate is 57.2%, I-Ready Reading is 38.4%, and I-Ready Math is 33.9%, indicating that many students still do not meet grade standards.
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Reading assessments in the lower grades show that students overall, IEP students, and multilingual learners have made little progress, but some indicators have declined for African-American and Hispanic students; Grades three through eight have generally improved, and there are fewer students who are several grades behind in reading.
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Although School District 25 leads the city with an overall attendance rate of 95.7%, 12.7% of students have an attendance rate below 90%. With a goal of reducing the chronic absenteeism rate to 4% by June 2027, the district will require schools to review records weekly, identify students who are frequently absent from school, and provide family support.
