The National Parents Union released a report detailing the state of New York's education system, and it doesn't put it in a positive light. According to their findings, 80% of Black and Hispanic students in Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse and Rochester aren’t proficient in reading and math. 

“Clearly, it’s unacceptable," said Ashara Baker, the New York state director for the National Parents Union. 

The NPU released its annual "Critical Condition, State of Education In New York" report this week.

“If you break the data down in disaggregated measures, you will see that there are increases specifically within the Black and brown community," Baker said. 

It’s the second edition of the annual report. Baker believes the report only reinforces what parents know: the education system needs reform. 

“To superintendents, to instructional coaches, to teachers who have the ability to have a say in professional development, really looking at how they can invest in research-based teaching, evidence-based curriculum and then targeted interventions would be their biggest move and the biggest investment for students," she said. 

The report outlines five recommendations: An investment in high-impact tutoring and extended learning opportunities; timely transparency with parents about their children’s grades; passage of the Empire Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit; implementing researched-based teaching and targeted interventions; and an expansion of access to high-quality public school choice offerings. 

“We're not going to get kids caught back up with just learning five days a week for seven hours a day. We need to increase the metric," Baker said. "We need to look at the instructional time and investment that we are putting into play in math, and that comes with supplemental support, such as tutoring and extended learning opportunities.” 

Education advocates said New York has to better prepare children and teens for employment.

“We can't get any worse than the numbers that we're at," Baker said. "To question how to restructure a schedule. Again, when you're producing 4% results. These are students who are not going to be ready for ninth-grade algebra. These are students who are not going to be ready to graduate and be successful.”

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the state for comment on what it's doing to improve the education system, but didn't hear back.