ALBANY \u2014\u00a0The state Education Department isn\u2019t doing enough to embrace a more modern literacy curriculum, a Brooklyn lawmaker is charging as states like Mississippi soar past New York in critical reading scores.<\/p>\n
Assemblyman Bobby Carroll\u00a0(D-Brooklyn) is demanding Education Department administrators mandate that schools statewide\u00a0adopt a phonics-based literacy curriculum<\/a>, known as the science of reading approach \u2014 after a recent study found hundreds of Empire State districts are using an outdated and ineffective curriculum model.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to Mississippi, states like Connecticut and Virginia, have already acted on this commonsense approach. New York should be leading, not falling behind,\u201d Carrol said in a statement.<\/p>\n Brooklyn Assemblyman Bobby Carroll wants the state to mandate schools adopt a \u201cscience of reading\u201d-based approach to literacy education. X\/@Bobby4Brooklyn<\/p>\n \u201cEvery child in New York deserves to be taught to read, and it is time for the State Education Department to deliver on that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n An analysis by the Education Trust-New York, a policy and advocacy organization, discovered roughly a third of school districts<\/a> are still teaching an outdated curriculum using the \u201cbalanced\u201d approach to literacy education.<\/p>\n New York students have struggled to improve reading scores over the last few years, even as state spending on public education continues to balloon. WavebreakmediaMicro \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n New York\u2019s grade 4 reading scores on national NAEP testing have stagnated in recent years, even dipping below the national average in 2022.<\/p>\n States like Mississippi, meanwhile, have seen a shocking jump in the rankings \u2014\u00a0going from 46th in 2017 to No. 7 in 2024.<\/p>\n