It's been a busy year in education, with several leadership changes and the city grappling with a record number of homeless students. Education reporter Lindsey Christ looks back at 2016.
There continued to be heated debate over whether the city should do more to desegregate the public school system. In November, a plan was approved to combat segregation on the Upper West Side,
And the city added 12 schools to a small diversity pilot program that allows schools to reserve seats for students from at-risk backgrounds.
More than 105,000 city students were homeless at some point during the 2015-2016 school year - about 10 percent of the public school population. A record-breaking number.
In January, the city began providing yellow buses to bring some children from shelters to school, but absentee rates among the homeless remain high.
There were some notable leadership shifts in 2016. Former New York State Education Commissioner John King became the new Secretary of Education in March. Meryl Tisch stepped down as Chancellor of the State Board of Regents and was replaced by Betty Rosa, who had critized her predesessor's focus on standardized tests tied to teacher evaluations. President-elect Donald Trump considered charter school leader, Eva Moskowitz for Education Secretary but chose Betsy DeVos, a billionaire from Michigan who has supported vouchers to allow public money to be put toward private schools.
State test scores were up for city students in 2016 but changes to the tests made it hard to compare results to previous years.
And Albany lawmakers once again decided to keep Mayor de Blasio on a short leash - by only approving a one year extension of mayoral control over city schools, not the seven year extension the mayor wanted.