Now, as Chancellor, I am eager to do the same. It’s been an honor to lead this incredible community of students, staff, and families, and I’m glad that we have much to celebrate as we wrap up the 2024-2025 school year.
This year, we continued transforming literacy and math instruction across our city through NYC Reads and NYC Solves. We’re providing unprecedented levels of coaching and training for our educators, who are doing the critical work to ensure all students, including our students with disabilities and multilingual learners, are getting high-quality, rigorous, engaging instruction every day.
We also expanded Student Pathways, adding more schools and career pathways to our signature FutureReadyNYC program. Over 15,000 students participated in FutureReadyNYC this year, and in the past two years, our students have earned over $18 million through work-based learning!
In addition, we launched NYCPS Cares, a new initiative to support both the whole child and the whole family. As part of this work, we are training over 1,000 Family Connectors to serve as trusted messengers in their communities and to connect parents and guardians to city resources. And that’s just the beginning—for a full recap of accomplishments, visit our website at schools.nyc.gov/24-25YearInReview.
We also have plenty of work ahead. Starting this fall, NYC Reads and NYC Solves will expand to 186 additional schools, with NYC Reads launching in middle schools for the first time.
FutureReadyNYC will grow to serve another 50 schools, and we’ll open seven new schools, including the Northwell School of Health Sciences and HBCU Early College Prep.
We’re also funding the hiring of 3,700 additional teachers to create smaller class sizes; expanding and strengthening 3-K and Pre-K, including for students with disabilities; growing our innovative specialized programs for autistic students; continuing to welcome our newest New Yorkers with open arms; and much more.
Families, thank you for choosing NYC Public Schools. We value your partnership immensely. I also want to thank our family and community volunteers and leaders, including our Community and Citywide Education Councils, Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, Parent Teacher Associations/Parent Associations, School Leadership Teams/District Leadership Teams, Title I Parent Advisory Councils, NYC Reads Ambassadors, and Family Connectors.
While the school year is ending, the work continues. I’m proud of the school year we’ve had and excited for what the next one will bring. I hope you are, too.
In partnership,
Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Chancellor