One of New York’s largest school districts has faced a long list of challenges, including a revolving door of eight superintendents in the past decade and an enrollment decline of 15,000 students since 1998.
But the Rochester City School District, which serves more than 20,700 students in upstate New York, is focusing on what leaders say is one of their biggest problems: poor academic performance in reading and math.
Officials are preparing a new English language arts curriculum this school year and are looking for an evidence-based math curriculum to be implemented in 2025-2026. Only 16% of third through eighth graders are proficient in reading in the district, and only 14% are on grade level in math.
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Interim Superintendent Demario Strickland said at an April 23 school board meeting that the district’s goal is to increase proficiency in both subjects to 40% by June 2028.
“If the work isn’t going to lend itself to any of those goals, then that’s something we shouldn’t be focusing our energy on,” he said.
The district is implementing the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum for students in kindergarten through second grade to support basic literacy skills, district spokesman Brendan O’Riordan said. Children in grades 3 through 6 are using a literacy intervention program called Really Great Reading, he said.
Like Rochester, many school districts around the country are changing their literacy curriculum to evidence-based materials that align with the science of reading. But there’s still a need for schools to take a look at math in a country where only 1 in 4 eighth-graders is proficient in the subject, said Ashara Baker, New York state director of the National Parents Association. .
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Baker said that for the past year and a half, she has advocated for legislation to improve reading and math instruction in New York schools. She also created a statewide math coalition to help drive improvement, particularly in the state’s largest school districts: Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester and Syracuse. Rochester’s student performance is the lowest of the five, according to a 2024 parent union report.
“A lot of people … were spending a lot of time on literacy. It felt good that there were enough cooks in the kitchen, so I really wanted to refocus on math for the simple fact that it wasn’t really a conversation across the country,” Baker said. “From the research that our coalition did, there were states who had already passed state math legislation, but New York State as a whole … for some reason, we’re not moving fast enough.”
Baker said that because New York has yet to pass statewide literacy requirements, changes in math instruction are still a long way off.
In August, she helped release the report as a way to drive change in both math and reading. In Rochester, reading proficiency rates fell as much as 8% for fourth- and fifth-graders in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the report, which is based on state assessment data. Math proficiency rates hit a low of 2% for eighth graders and 4% for seventh graders.
“I’m pushing these numbers in front of lawmakers so they can understand how terrible it is for us to understand where we’re putting our investments,” Baker said. “But then, too, they have to be held accountable. They need to understand that you can’t celebrate when you have 2% of eighth graders who are proficient in math.”
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The district has been working to improve student performance for years. But it focused on graduation rates, which is the wrong priority, said Shanai Lee, a local attorney who worked in the district office for 13 years. She now leads the nonprofit organization READY, which helps community members and parents drive change in the district.
“What’s going on? Are we easing standards to get students out the door? If we’re serious about the sustainability, the sustainability of Rochester, we have to start asking ourselves, ‘What are we graduating our students with and what are we graduating them with?’ “said Lee. “Because often, I’m hearing from our workforce that our kids are just not prepared.”
READY, which Lee founded in 2023, recently hosted its first Parent ACTION Academy. The academy is a nine-month leadership program that teaches families how to advocate with district leaders, legislators and school board members.
The goal is to ensure Rochester’s children have access to quality schools. Lee said the organization estimates that only 10% of the district’s students have the opportunity to attend a school that meets or exceeds state averages in test scores, teacher retention or graduation rates.
“We are ready for change. We are ready for quality schools,” said Lee. “We are ready to take control of Rochester’s public education space as a community.”
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Asked to comment on Lee’s responses to the district’s plans, Strickland wrote in an emailed statement that Rochester is “committed to a student-centered approach, focusing on excellence and equity to improve academic outcomes. The goals of our strategic plan aim to increase proficiency in ELA and math, with clear targets for improvement through 2028, ensuring we meet the diverse needs of our students and community.”
Baker said she sent the parent union report to Strickland to let her know that Rochester will be part of the statewide conversation about reading and math scores.
“I will advocate for any county that is willing to make the changes,” Baker said. “But if you’re not going to do right by children and families, then maybe I’m not the best person to be in the room because I’m going to call you out on it.”