New York City’s latest reading scores deserve attention. The share of students in grades 3 through 8 who scored proficient on the state English Language Arts exam fell from 56.3% in 2025 to 50.3% this year.

Those numbers should prompt serious questions about what is happening in classrooms and whether NYC Reads — the city’s sweeping changes to reading instruction — is producing the results students need.

But as researchers and professors of education, we would caution against treating a single assessment as a verdict on NYC Reads. That is especially important given the questions raised about whether the 2025 state test results provide a reliable year-to-year comparison.

Here, three types of data matter: the state test scores, school-administered reading screeners that help teachers identify students who need additional support, and implementation data that show whether schools are using the new approach as intended. Right now, those measures are........

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