Benjamin N Cardozo High School, Bayside NY

Original Research by School Decision on Benjamin N Cardozo High School

Benjamin N. Cardozo High School is a large public high school in Bayside, Queens, serving students in grades nine through twelve. The enrollment is mid-sized for an urban secondary school, with roughly balanced cohorts across each year. The school draws a notably diverse student body by race and ethnicity, with Asian students forming the plurality, followed by substantial populations of Hispanic and Black students. A large majority of the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting significant economic need across the school community. Data on state assessment results, graduation rates, and chronic absenteeism were not available, so a reader cannot assess academic proficiency or completion outcomes from this profile.

The school is located in Bayside, a residential neighborhood in northeastern Queens characterized by detached homes in Tudor, Colonial, and Cape Cod styles interspersed with low-rise apartment buildings and garden apartments. The area is regarded as upper-middle-class and ethnically diverse, with a self-contained, small-town identity within the city. Bell Boulevard serves as the main commercial and pedestrian spine, lined with globally diverse restaurants, shops, and bakeries. The neighborhood is anchored by the LIRR Bayside station on the Port Washington Branch, offering commuter access to Midtown, and by extensive parkland along the waterfront including Fort Totten Park and Crocheron Park with views of the Throgs Neck Bridge. Housing values in the 11364 zip code are above the statewide median, and rental prices have risen; mortgage rates and unemployment are stable at typical national levels.

Bayside's development is deliberately constrained. In recent years the city approved a large down-zoning to reinforce the area's low-density residential character and limit oversized single-family development. Larger multifamily projects now advance with City Council approval and include affordable and senior-care components. The Bay Terrace Shopping Center is undergoing commercial expansion with fitness studios, dining, and retail. Queensborough Community College, a major nearby employer and institution, sits on a 37-acre campus on 56th Avenue.

The school is part of New York City Geographic District 26, which covers northeast Queens. The district has implemented two significant, durable curriculum changes: all elementary schools adopted the citywide 'NYC Reads' phonics-based reading mandate replacing teacher-chosen balanced-literacy materials, and middle and high schools in the district adopted the 'NYC Solves' standardized math curriculum, most commonly Illustrative Mathematics, replacing school-by-school choices. These are lasting shifts in pedagogy that families in the district navigate. The gifted-and-talented program was reformed citywide to rely on teacher recommendation and lottery rather than entrance exams, expanding access to kindergarten and adding a new third-grade entry point across all 32 districts. The district also completed or is undertaking capacity investments to relieve overcrowding, including a new elementary school in Bayside and additions at other schools, directly affecting class sizes and enrollment pressures.

The school lists music in its arts and music programs. Beyond that, the data provided does not include course offerings, advanced placement inventory, career pathways, or staffing details, so a reader would benefit from consulting the school's website or contacting the school directly to understand the full range of academic tracks, dual-credit or CTE options, or specialized programming. The absence of state assessment and graduation data makes it impossible to characterize academic performance or completion outcomes from this profile alone.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

93.0%Cohort of 864 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Advanced Placement & IB

22 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus AB

162 tested

58.0%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

24 tested

70.8%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

52 tested · Grade 10

38.5%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

91 tested · Grade 10

54.9%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

52 tested

26.9%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

138 tested

51.4%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

60 tested · Grade 10

81.7%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

107 tested

17.8%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

47 tested

66.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

31 tested

67.7%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

Comparative Government and Politics

83 tested

74.7%

scored 3 or higher

European History

22 tested · Grade 10

77.3%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

131 tested

46.6%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

64 tested

68.8%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

107 tested

68.2%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

252 tested · Grade 10

80.2%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

13 tested

76.9%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

42 tested · Grade 10

90.5%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

227 tested

57.7%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

160 tested

62.5%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

83 tested

75.9%

scored 3 or higher

World History

200 tested · Grade 10

78.5%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Ela	854	74.0%
Social Studies	767	82.0%
Science	436	50.0%
Math	44	30.0%

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.