Francis Lewis High School, Fresh Meadows NY

Original Research by School Decision on Francis Lewis High School

Francis Lewis High School is a public four-year school serving grades nine through twelve in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It enrolls more than four thousand students and sits within New York City Geographic District 26, which covers northeast Queens neighborhoods including Fresh Meadows, Bayside, and Little Neck.

The school's student body is predominantly Asian, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of white, Black, and multiracial students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting both the economic profile of the neighborhood and the economic diversity of New York City public school enrollment overall.

State testing data was not available for this school. This gap is notable enough that a parent may want to reach out to the school directly to ask about proficiency trends and to understand how the school measures student learning in core subjects. The absence of published state assessment results limits what the available data can show about academic outcomes.

The school offers Advanced Placement courses, including AP Biology, Chemistry, Government, Physics, and US History. For more detailed information about course breadth, career pathways, dual-credit offerings, or other academic programs, the school website or a direct conversation with an admissions or academic counselor would be the next step.

Francis Lewis sits in Fresh Meadows, a planned mid-20th-century residential neighborhood with tree-lined streets, single-family homes, garden apartments, and cooperatives anchored by a large housing complex. The area has a quiet, family-oriented character and is home to growing communities from East Asia, South Asia, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe alongside established Jewish, Irish, and Italian families. Walkability is moderate; everyday errands are accessible on foot, but the neighborhood lacks a traditional downtown. Major employers include NewYork-Presbyterian medical facilities and nearby St. John's University. Transit relies on local buses; the nearest subway stations are at the neighborhood's edge.

The neighborhood is experiencing growth pressure. A major development proposal (the Fresh Meadows Vision) would add mixed-income housing and retail, though it faces community skepticism and public review. Separately, a developer is pursuing a mixed-use redevelopment on a former St. John's site, and smaller infill construction is ongoing. Housing values in the zip code have risen and rents remain stable, though both sit above state and national benchmarks. For families buying into the area, these development dynamics and housing costs matter alongside the school.

At the district level, two curriculum mandates shape the educational pathway. Elementary schools adopted the NYC Reads literacy program, a phonics-based science-of-reading approach replacing principal-chosen materials. The district was also among the first to adopt NYC Solves, a standardized math curriculum mandate for middle and high schools emphasizing conceptual understanding. These are durable changes to instruction that affect how students learn. Additionally, the district has completed or is undertaking major school expansions to ease overcrowding: P.S. 26 (Rufus King) received a substantial addition, P.S. 46 and the new P.S. 390Q are online, and a J.H.S. 185 addition is planned. These investments speak to enrollment pressure and may affect class sizes as the neighborhood grows.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

92.0%Cohort of 1,126 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

26 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

99 tested

94.9%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

33 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

50 tested · Grade 10

74.0%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

31 tested

48.4%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

101 tested

95.0%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

161 tested

88.2%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

35 tested · Grade 10

97.1%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

162 tested · Grade 10

77.8%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

33 tested · Grade 10

81.8%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

46 tested

84.8%

scored 3 or higher

English

Research

79 tested

92.4%

scored 3 or higher

Seminar

116 tested · Grade 10

92.2%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

Comparative Government and Politics

115 tested

54.8%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

121 tested

81.0%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

122 tested

78.7%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

266 tested · Grade 10

80.5%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

268 tested

92.9%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

80 tested · Grade 10

96.3%

scored 3 or higher

Japanese Language and Culture

8 tested

62.5%

scored 3 or higher

Spanish Language and Culture

63 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

92.1%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Music Theory

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

366 tested

62.0%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

155 tested

77.4%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

40 tested

80.0%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

115 tested

55.7%

scored 3 or higher

World History

290 tested · Grade 10

79.3%

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	1,369	76.0%
Social Studies	1,255	87.0%
Math	964	79.0%
Science	454	60.0%

Math

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 73% · ▼ 73 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 79% · ▼ 79 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 59 pts below county median

Science

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 61% · ▼ 60 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #26, same grade

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.