NYC promises changes to how students learn to read

This fall, changes are coming to New York City classrooms.

Education department officials say they will require all elementary schools to adopt a phonics-based reading program.

This is a potentially seismic shift in how tens of thousands of public school students are taught to read.

Before the coronavirus hit, less than half of the city’s students in grades 3-8 were considered proficient readers, according to state tests. The pandemic has only multiplied concerns that students have been knocked off track.

The shift to recommended phonics-based curricula for kindergarten through second grade is part of a $7.4 million plan from Mayor Eric Adams to address literacy.

Adams also has announced new efforts to identify and support students with dyslexia or other reading challenges, including screening students from kindergarten through high school and creating targeted programs at 160 of the city’s 1,600 schools.