Ps/is 178 Holliswood, Jamaica NY

Original Research by School Decision on Ps/is 178 Holliswood

PS/IS 178 Holliswood is a PK-8 public school in Jamaica, Queens serving a community that sits in a pocket of residential stability within a neighborhood undergoing rapid change. The school has a student body of about five hundred, with roughly half qualifying for free or reduced-price meals and a notably large share identifying as white, with substantial representation of Asian, Hispanic, and Black students as well.

The school's academic performance sits below the midpoint for proficiency compared to other schools across Queens County. In English language arts, results are mixed by grade: third grade and sixth grade hover near the midpoint, fourth grade and eighth grade sit modestly above it, while fifth and seventh grade fall below. Math results follow a similar pattern, with particular weakness in fifth grade, where proficiency drops to around two in five students, and sixth grade, where it dips to roughly four in ten. Seventh grade rebounds to nearly six in ten, and fourth grade reaches about the same. Third grade edges past six in ten in math. The school did not report math or science results for eighth grade in the most recent testing year; a parent may want to ask the school directly whether these cohorts were tested and why results are not appearing in the state data. Science proficiency in fifth grade, the only grade tested, sits at roughly a third of students. Participation rates are generally high, between the high eighties and high nineties, suggesting the school is successfully bringing students to the assessments.

The school's location in Jamaica is itself a context worth understanding. Jamaica has a dense, transit-rich downtown built around Jamaica Station, the Long Island Rail Road hub, which brings in daily commuters and connects to subway lines and the AirTrain to JFK. The neighborhood is commercially alive, with Caribbean, South Asian, Bangladeshi, and Latin American businesses animating Sutphin Boulevard, Jamaica Avenue, and Hillside Avenue. South and east of the downtown core, where the school sits, the character shifts to quieter, tree-lined residential blocks of single-family homes, rowhouses, and apartment buildings. The area is growing: major residential development projects have brought new mixed-use towers to downtown Jamaica, and a recent rezoning is expected to unlock significant new housing stock including permanently affordable units. Housing values in the school's ZIP code are well above the state benchmark.

District 26, the school's geographic district covering parts of north and central Queens, has implemented two major curriculum mandates that will shape how the school teaches. All elementary schools, including those serving pre-K and primary grades at this school, must now use one of three approved, science-of-reading curricula with mandatory daily phonics instruction, replacing the principal-chosen balanced-literacy approach that had been common in the city. Middle schools, which this school serves, have adopted the NYC Solves math mandate, standardizing on problem-based curricula like Illustrative Mathematics. These are durable, system-wide changes that affect pedagogy, pacing, and materials. The district has also invested in capacity, with new elementary schools and building additions coming online in nearby communities to relieve overcrowding.

The school's pre-K through eighth-grade span means it can provide continuity through early childhood and into middle school within a single building, which appeals to families seeking stability across that transition. However, the performance data suggests the school is working with an academic profile that leans below county norms, particularly in math at the upper elementary level. A parent should consider whether the school's local character, accessibility to the Jamaica transit hub and neighborhood amenities, and through-grade configuration outweigh the academic performance indicators, and should ask the school leadership directly about their instructional approach, how they are implementing the new reading and math mandates, and what support structures are in place for students not yet proficient.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

New York Regents Exams

2 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
Science	63	44.0%
Math	61	69.0%

Math

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 83% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 82% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 77% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 76% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 82% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 80%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 76% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 74% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 77% · ▼ 22 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 76% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 77% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 79% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Science

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 66% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 80%

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

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

Social studies

Grade 598%

School 98% · district not reported

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 22 pts above 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income58%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income57%Higher-income72%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income71%38 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income61%Higher-income58%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income32%Higher-income70%38 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income63%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income48%Higher-income75%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income59%Higher-income72%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income42%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income46%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income80%43 pp gap