New York City has announced that the city's public elementary schools will now be forced to use a curriculum that actually teaches children how to read.
On Tuesday, David C. Banks, the chancellor of the city's Department of Education, unveiled new rules governing reading instruction in New York City public schools, mandating that schools adopt one of three evidence- based reading programs. A school can only apply for an exception to the new rules if more than 85 percent of its student body is deemed "proficient" in reading—a distinction held by only around 20 schools in the entire city.