The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in Social studies. The lowest is 56% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ps 117 J Keld/briarwood School
PS 117, the J. Keld/Briarwood School, sits at 85-15 143rd Street in Jamaica, Queens, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within NYC Geographic District 28. It is a regular public elementary school, not a charter, and there is no magnet designation in the data.
The school's academic results on the New York State Testing Program stand out. Across third, fourth, and fifth grades in math and ELA, the share of students scoring at proficiency or above is consistently strong, with math particularly solid across all three tested grades. Third-grade math results are especially high. ELA proficiency is also positive across the board, if somewhat below the math figures. In fifth-grade science, roughly half to a bit more than half of tested students reached proficiency, which is the softer spot in the picture and worth asking the school about. Relative to districts in Queens County, the school's overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile, a meaningful position in a county with dozens of districts. Trend data across years was not available in the dataset, so it is not possible to say whether results have been rising, falling, or holding steady.
One practical note: participation rates in testing are below universal across several grades and subjects, meaning a meaningful share of enrolled students did not sit for a given test. This is not unusual in New York City, but a parent who wants to understand the full picture of achievement might ask the school how non-participating students are supported.
The student body is large for an elementary school. Hispanic students make up the largest share of enrollment, with Asian students the next largest group, followed by white and Black students and smaller numbers of other groups. The school serves a community with real economic pressure: a substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learner rates and students with IEPs was not reported in the dataset, which is a gap a parent would want to close directly with the school, especially if a child has language or learning needs.
At the district level, the two changes most relevant to PS 117 families are both in effect now. NYC Reads requires all District 28 elementary schools to use one of three city-approved literacy curricula grounded in the science of reading, replacing the prior school-by-school approach. The mandate has been adjusted slightly to give teachers more flexibility in pacing, but publicly reported accounts confirm the chancellor regards it as permanent. For a pre-K through fifth-grade family, this is the single largest shift in how early reading is taught, and it is worth asking the school which curriculum it adopted and how the rollout has gone. Separately, the city expanded Gifted and Talented access to all districts, adding a third-grade entry point and moving away from a single high-stakes test toward a screening model based on grades. District 28 is publicly reported to have some of the stronger district-level G&T options in the borough, so this is worth tracking for families of younger children.
Looking further out, Queens High School for the Sciences, the borough's only specialized high school, has been approved to relocate to a new building in Jamaica within District 28 for the upcoming school year, with plans to grow its enrollment substantially by the end of the decade. The new facility will have amenities the current site lacks. Seats are partially reserved for Districts 27 and 28 residents, so a child now at PS 117 would eventually be part of a feeder geography that has direct access to this option.
The neighborhood itself is dense and transit-connected. Jamaica's downtown core is built around one of the busiest transit hubs in the outer boroughs, with LIRR, subway, and AirTrain access converging at Jamaica Station. Residential development around the transit hub has been active, with several large mixed-income projects either recently completed or under construction. Housing values in the zip code sit above the statewide median and have been rising, and rents have edged up as well, reflecting the area's ongoing growth. The surrounding blocks closer to the school's address, in the Briarwood section, are quieter and more residential than the commercial downtown core a short distance away.
Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data were not available for PS 117 in the dataset; those metrics do not apply at the elementary level in the same way, and state testing coverage stops at fifth grade here.
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