NYC Parent Confronts Schools Chancellor Over Son's Math Deficiencies
A parent advocate claims her son received inflated grades throughout middle school, leaving him unprepared for high school math.
Adriana Aviles, a parent advocate and representative on the Citywide Council on High Schools, has publicly accused New York City's public school system of deceiving her and her son by providing him with inflated math grades throughout his K-8 education. Aviles, a former NYPD officer and long-time education insider, stated that her son consistently received A's in math, with his lowest grade being a B-plus, yet struggled significantly with basic algebra, geometry, and fractions when he entered a top Queens high school.
"I’ll never forget seeing tears well up in my son’s eyes as he was only able to answer the first couple of questions on the math review worksheet," Aviles recounted. "He couldn’t solve basic algebra. He couldn’t do geometry. He couldn’t compute elementary-school fractions."
Aviles discovered the extent of her son's struggles when she sat down to help him prepare for his second math exam in high school. His performance on that exam, scoring 10 out of 100, revealed the gap between his reported grades and his actual understanding. His high school is now tasked with providing him with the foundational math education he should have received in earlier grades.
Aviles, whose parents immigrated from Colombia and instilled in her a strong value for education, expressed feelings of betrayal. She had chosen to live in District 26, known for its strong school performance, believing she was providing her son with a quality education. She noted that while teachers often grade on a rubric, she suspects the Department of Education (DOE) may manipulate numbers to present a better image.
"My son wasn’t in advanced classes, he was in general education, he didn’t take the Regents in middle school," Aviles said. "I relied on his teachers to tell me the truth about how he was doing. I failed too. I didn’t scrutinize his work closely or check his performance on state test scores because I figured if his report cards were good then everything was fine."
She later discovered her son had been deemed “not proficient” in math on a seventh-grade state exam, a fact that contradicted his stellar report card grades. Aviles also pointed to several warning signs in hindsight, including minimal homework, the allowance of test revisions for new grades, and a lax attitude towards missed assignments.
Aviles shared her concerns with other parents, who reported similar experiences with their children struggling in math despite receiving good grades. Motivated by these conversations and her own experience, she confronted Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels at a Citywide Council on High Schools town hall on October 26.
During the town hall, Aviles questioned the DOE's shift away from standardized testing requirements like Regents exams towards more subjective evaluation models like the "Portrait of a Graduate." She expressed concern that such changes could exacerbate the issues her son faced, leading to more students being ill-prepared.
Aviles described Chancellor Samuels as appearing taken aback by her comments, offering a response she found unsatisfactory. "He didn’t even acknowledge my question. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He was stammering and didn’t know what to say," she stated. Aviles left the town hall early, unable to engage in the customary post-event photos.
She believes that the current educational approach fails many working-class families who rely on the system's honesty regarding their children's progress. Aviles stated, "The DOE enables failure in minority communities by constantly lowering their standards instead of grading our children accurately and failing to collaborate with families to address issues they may be having."