Staff Reports
The fight over what “good schools” look like in New York City just got louder. Two reports landed at once and they tell very different stories: a Success Academy analysis that calls out hundreds of city schools for failing basic reading and math, and the NYC Department of Education’s own 2026 School Survey that brags about sky‑high satisfaction numbers. Which one should parents trust? My money is on the test scores — not a well‑designed PR deck.
Two reports, two realities
Success Academy’s “By Any Honest Measure” uses the 2025 state exams and flags 906 public schools where fewer than half of students are proficient in reading, math, or both. The report says about 409,000 students attend those schools and that 503 schools had major shortfalls in both subjects. At the same time, the DOE released its 2026 NYC School Survey with roughly 871,000 respondents and many items showing very high favorable percentages. The papers hit the street together and suddenly the city has a data fight on its hands.
Why the numbers don’t line up
Not all data measure the same thing. The state tests measure grade‑level reading and math skill. The DOE survey measures how people feel about school climate, safety and whether adults listen. Both matter, but feelings don’t teach third graders how to read. Also, the DOE rewrote the student survey in 2025, so 2026 is a new baseline and you can’t make neat year‑to‑year claims. Reporters have also found that the DOE’s “96%” claim — tossed around in coverage — seems to be an item‑level or program metric, not a single citywide stamp of approval that wipes out poor test outcomes. And yes, some principals have reportedly used incentives to boost survey returns, which raises questions about how honest those “satisfaction” totals really are.
Method matters — for both sides
Before anyone drools over headlines, demand the spreadsheets. Success Academy is an advocacy group and its analysis needs a clear method, a school list, and checks for low participation or unusual exclusions. The DOE, likewise, should say exactly which questions produced those near‑perfect numbers and explain how climate scores relate to falling proficiency, declining enrollment and chronic absenteeism. Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels owes parents more than a PowerPoint — he owes them a plan that ties satisfaction to real learning gains.
What parents and policymakers should demand
Don’t let warm feelings about school paint over cold facts about reading and math. Parents should insist on school‑by‑school transparency: publish the Success Academy list, publish the DOE school one‑pagers, and compare them. Policymakers must make clear that surveys matter but don’t replace accountability tied to student learning. Fund literacy programs, focus on attendance, and stop pretending PR wins are the same as classroom wins. If the city really cares about kids, it will stop arguing about which slide looks better and start fixing the classrooms that tests say are failing.
