{"id":319539,"date":"2026-08-12T15:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/319539\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T15:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:18:33","slug":"more-than-half-of-nyc-students-often-bored-in-class-school-survey-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/319539\/","title":{"rendered":"More than half of NYC students often bored in class, school survey finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Close to half of New York City public schoolchildren do not feel challenged in the classroom, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/infohub.nyced.org\/reports\/students-and-schools\/school-quality\/nyc-school-survey\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this year\u2019s school survey results<\/a> released Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Roughly 41% of students said they feel like they are \u201cchallenged academically\u201d or \u201clearn new and hard things\u201d in only some or none of their classes, the results showed. In response to a follow-up question, around 53% reported they \u201coften\u201d or \u201cvery often\u201d felt bored during last school year.<\/p>\n<p>The citywide school survey is administered to students, families and teachers every year, and this year\u2019s results express the views of more than 870,000 respondents \u2014 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2025\/08\/05\/more-than-40-percent-of-nyc-students-engage-in-cyberbullying-survey\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2% increase from last year<\/a>. The survey opened on Feb. 9 and closed on April 30.<\/p>\n<p>In a news release, education officials said the data \u201csignals strong alignment\u201d with Chancellor Kamar Samuels\u2019 pledge to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/06\/17\/schools-chancellor-working-groups-integration-academic-rigor\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">make academic rigor one of his top priorities for the public schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe school survey is one of our most important tools because it gives families, students, and staff a direct voice in shaping our schools,\u201d Samuels said in a statement. \u201cAs the nation\u2019s largest school system, we rely on this feedback to strengthen our schools and continue leading through innovation and improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roughly 92% of students reported feeling safe in their classes, though the percentage declined when children, especially students of color, were asked about other school spaces, such as the hallways and cafeteria. For example, just 83% of Asian, Black and Hispanic students said they feel safe in the locker rooms and bathrooms, the data showed.<\/p>\n<p>Close to three-quarters of students said their schoolmates at least sometimes get into physical fights at school, and a quarter are \u201coften\u201d or \u201cvery often\u201d harassing or bullying others online or through social media, according to the results.<\/p>\n<p>Education officials <a href=\"https:\/\/infohub.nyced.org\/docs\/default-source\/default-document-library\/2026-nyc-school-survey-student-revisions-one-pager.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cautioned against comparing students\u2019 responses between school years<\/a> because they revised the child-facing survey, so the Daily News was unable to consider changes in cyberbullying data given New York\u2019s school cell phone ban. (Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/06\/01\/ny-cellphone-ban-takeaways-students-paid-more-attention-bullying-declined-survey\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">other<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2025\/12\/01\/new-york-cellphone-ban-boosts-student-learning-social-skills-we-hear-increased-laughter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">polls<\/a> administered by the state have shown early positive signs for schools.)<\/p>\n<p>In the family survey, the vast majority of parents and guardians \u2014 96% \u2014continued to report feeling satisfied with the education their child received last school year. That\u2019s in line with the satisfaction rate every year since the question for parents was last edited between 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about room for improvement, <a href=\"https:\/\/infohub.nyced.org\/docs\/default-source\/default-document-library\/2026-nyc-school-survey-public-deck.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">families, as in past years, overwhelmingly called for stronger \u201cenrichment programs,\u201d<\/a> such as afterschool, clubs and sports teams, according to the results.<\/p>\n<p>Also at the top of parents\u2019 wish list was more hands-on learning \u2014 instead of the teacher doing all of the talking \u2014 and smaller class sizes. Mayor Mamdani, while maintaining he supports a state law capping classrooms between 20 and 25 students, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/06\/01\/ny-lawmakers-push-back-delay-smaller-class-sizes-mandate-nyc-mamdani-500-million-budget\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">persuaded Gov. Hochul and the state Legislature to push back its full implementation<\/a>, forcing those families to wait two more years until the limits are instituted citywide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ll continue to make sure we get it done,\u201d United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew told the Daily News on parent demand for smaller class sizes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast year, we made a big deal that we had to get the capital (plan) in place,\u201d the teachers union boss said. \u201cThat was definitely missing, and we\u2019ve seen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/06\/11\/mamdani-nyc-schools-plan-smaller-class-sizes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">good progress on that<\/a>, so I\u2019m happy about that. But when the DOE gets back to work, we\u2019ll see where they\u2019re at overall on class size for next school year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The news release also touted teachers\u2019 confidence in Samuels\u2019 leadership: 77%, up from 69% under the previous administration. In response to survey questions, teachers agreed with statements such as the chancellor is an effective manager and someone they can trust at his word.<\/p>\n<p>The survey closed weeks before Samuels came under scrutiny related to a no-bid contract he signed as a Manhattan district schools superintendent before being appointed chancellor. In May, Samuels was accused of bill-splitting in Community School District 3 to avoid a competitive bidding process required for big contracts. The maneuver cut through bureaucracy and allowed Samuels to quickly place world language teachers in classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>Samuels has said that his actions on the Upper West Side and in Harlem were taken on behalf of students and not for any personal gain. Mamdani has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/06\/10\/mamdani-defends-schools-chancellor-kamar-samuels-probe-no-bid-contract\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stood by his chancellor<\/a> while an investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Close to half of New York City public schoolchildren do not feel challenged in the classroom, according to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[120478,41579,9,24,63,8229,122,124,123,9954,120477,6915],"class_list":["post-319539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-bored-students","tag-kamar-samuels","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-public-schools","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-school-safety","tag-school-survey","tag-schools-chancellor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}