Most of the City Council asks Albany to bring back paper state tests

More than half of the New York City Council is pressing state education officials to let students go back to pencil and paper on the annual state math and reading exams, Gothamist reported Friday.

The push, laid out in a letter led by Council Member Eric Dinowitz, who chairs the Council's education committee, targets a state rule that has moved every district in New York to computer-based testing. Dinowitz said students are forced onto screens "because that is how they are assessed," even as parents and teachers worry about screen time. He said paper would let children underline reading passages and write their essays by hand.

What the state requires

The state started requiring some grades to test by computer in 2024, and last spring was the first time all third through eighth graders had to, according to Gothamist. A State Education Department memo for the spring 2026 exams says students in all grades must take the English, math and science tests on a computer. The exceptions are students whose Individualized Education Program or Section 504 plan requires paper, some students who need an alternate-language edition of the math and science tests, and religious and independent schools that do not use classroom technology because of religious beliefs.

State education department spokesperson J.P. O'Hare told Gothamist the agency is reviewing the Council's request and will have more information "in the coming weeks."

Part of a wider screen debate

The letter lands amid closer scrutiny of this year's results, which showed a sharp drop in reading scores, Gothamist noted. Some educators have asked whether testing third graders on computers for the first time played a role, while experts have also questioned the test itself and its scoring.

City and state officials have been moving to limit classroom screens. Mayor Zohran Mamdani in September banned individual student use of laptops and tablets through second grade, according to Gothamist. In Albany, State Sen. Andrew Gounardes in August introduced the FOCUS Act, which would require schools to offer mostly screen-free, pencil-and-paper learning from pre-K through fifth grade and limit device use in higher grades, Brooklyn Paper reported. The state's bell-to-bell ban on personal phones in schools took effect in fall 2025.