Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has met with Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in what could amount to a job interview with high stakes for the city\u2019s students, parents and schools.<\/p>\n
Mamdani, while discussing the recruitment of new teachers earlier, told reporters, \u201cI think she has been doing a good job.\u201d He more recently spoke positively about her work without indicating his intentions or any decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have met with Chancellor Ramos. I have appreciated the work that she has done,\u201d he told Spectrum News NY1 recently. \u201cAnd like everyone within the Adams administration, I\u2019ll assess her and everyone else based on the work they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aviles-Ramos, who took the helm in October 2024, succeeding David Banks, indicated she would like to stay on and work for Mayor-elect Mamdani as his schools chancellor. And she gave a positive, if not a detailed, perspective on her meeting with Mamdani.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a great conversation about all things education from safety to raising achievement scores and proficiency levels in math and reading,\u201d Aviles-Ramos said on Spectrum News NY1 earlier this week. \u201cWe talked a lot about daycare versus early childhood education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani has been crafting his own vision for education in New York City public schools, a system with about 1 million students.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
While he has announced numerous replacements for officials, he has retained some, such as Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.\n<\/p>\n
Other possible picks for chancellor discussed by observers include former Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, but Aviles-Ramos has been garnering some support over her first year on the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re really addressing is an opportunity gap, not an achievement gap,\u201d Aviles-Ramos recently told NY1. \u201cWhen teacher and students are given the right resources, we see those test scores go up.\u201d<\/p>\n
A solid report card<\/p>\n
Aviles-Ramos has a good report card among many parents, teachers, and activists boosted by an improved report card for students, including rising math and ELA proficiency scores across the board.<\/p>\n
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, called the rise in ELA and math scores announced a little bit before the end of her first year \u201ca testament to the hard work by New York City educators and our students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He then singled out Aviles-Ramos for working hard to keep and implement various programs.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI also want to acknowledge that this success would not have been possible without Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who fought the DOE bureaucracy to make sure the needs of students and school communities came first,\u201d Mulgrew said.<\/p>\n
Proficiency in grades three to eight in 2025 rose 3.4 points in Math and 7.2 points in ELA since 2024 in data released in August, reaching 56.9% for Math and 56.3% for ELA.<\/p>\n
While that still leaves a lot of space to improve, it\u2019s positive momentum with rates rising across all ethnicities for grades 3 to 8, including a 1.1 point rise to 80.8% for Asian students in Math, White students up 2.8 points to 75.1%, Black students rising 4.6 points to 43%, and Hispanics increasing 3.4 points to 43.1%.<\/p>\n
Asian student ELA proficiency for grades 3 to 8 since 2024 rose 4.9 points to 74.9%, while White students rose 7.3 points to 73.1%, Black students jumped 8.3 points to 47 percent and Hispanics rose 7.1 points to 43.5%.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, I\u2019m a super teacher, I\u2019m a former principal,\u201d Aviles-Ramos told New York 1. \u201cI get to go into classrooms and have conversations with teachers and principals about pedagogy, and curriculum and instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has been implementing and expanding instructional initiatives, such as NYC Reads and NYC Solves as well as Student Pathways. And she launched NYCPS Cares this spring, designed to address \u201csystemic inequities in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s child-centered. She\u2019s an educator,\u201d one former principal told amNewYork regarding Aviles-Ramos. \u201cHer passion is to see children succeed and she is a mother of a child in the New York City school system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bringing a diverse student body together<\/p>\n
The New York City schools are a diverse city within a city with 906,248 students in the 2024-2025 school year including 42.3% Hispanic, 19.3% Black, 18.7% Asian and Pacific Islander, 16.1% White, 2% multiracial, and 1.2% native American.<\/p>\n
About three quarters, or 75.3%, are categorized as economically disadvantaged, so many students may face economic challenges as well. \u201cI don\u2019t think she\u2019s looking to make a name for herself,\u201d the former principal said. \u201cI think she\u2019s looking to continue to make a positive name for the New York City school system and the children it serves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aviles-Ramos, according to the former principal, also recognizes and supports programs to serve children in a wide range of social circumstances, including those living in shelters.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s tried to touch all bases to try to ensure that every child receives more than adequate education,\u201d the former principal said. \u201cThere are children in temporary housing that don\u2019t have the roof that other children might have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aviles-Ramos has been a teacher, assistant principal, principal, deputy superintendent, and acting superintendent as well as administrator.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
She started as a New York City Teaching Fellow and English teacher at Truman High School in 2007 in the Bronx, then became principal at Schuylerville Preparatory High School, increasing graduation rates from 23 percent to 68 percent in her first year to\u00a0 83 percent in her second year.<\/p>\n
She became senior executive director of program implementation in the Office of the First Deputy Chancellor, chief of staff for Chancellor Banks and then deputy chancellor of family and community engagement and external affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aviles-Ramos holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University, and a Master of Arts degree from CUNY City College and is the mother of a daughter in middle school.<\/p>\n
Mayor-elect Mamdani has discussed the need for more support for childcare, while Aviles-Ramos also emphasized the importance of pre-kindergarten in caring for and educating children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The former principal believes there\u2019s value in allowing Aviles-Ramos to continue working with him to achieve his goals.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s approachable and open. She listens to criticism. She\u2019s not a pushover, but she\u2019ll take suggestions under advisement,\u201d the former principal said. \u201cGive her a chance to continue the work that she\u2019s doing under the new mayor\u2019s leadership. If he\u2019s not happy, he has the options to make a change at any time during the next our years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor-elect Mamdani will make his choice to implement his educational vision, but the current chancellor at least seems to have finished her first year with a good report card from many.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery mayor gets to pick their own chancellor,\u201d the former principal said. \u201cAt this point, he might do differently, but I don\u2019t think he can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has met with Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in what could amount to a job interview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5396,9,56,63,65,64,8229,5271],"class_list":["post-76011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-melissa-aviles-ramos","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nyc-public-schools","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76011","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=76011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}