The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in Social studies. The lowest is 51% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ps 175 Lynn Gross Discovery School (the)
PS 175 The Lynn Gross Discovery School sits on 102nd Street in Rego Park, a dense, walkable square mile in central Queens where Eastern European delis, Persian bakeries, and Korean grocery stores share the same blocks. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within NYC Geographic District 28, drawing from a neighborhood that is visibly multicultural and actively growing, with new residential towers rising along Queens Boulevard and the broader corridor.
The school's academic results, measured on the New York State Testing Program, are a clear strength. Across third, fourth, and fifth grade, math proficiency runs well above what most parents would expect from a typical city elementary school, with third and fourth graders performing especially strongly. ELA results are solid rather than exceptional, sitting in a good range across the tested grades though somewhat below the math results, as is common. Fifth-grade science proficiency sits at roughly the midpoint, which is the one area where a parent might want to ask the school what supports are in place for that subject. Social studies testing data is available only from a much earlier school year and is not a reliable current picture. Taken together, when the school's overall proficiency is placed relative to districts in Queens County, it sits in the top quartile of that comparison set, which is a genuine performance distinction for an elementary school in a large urban system.
The student body is economically mixed: a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, while the school also enrolls a large proportion of students whose families do not. Racially, the school is diverse in the way Rego Park itself is diverse, with white students forming the largest single group, followed by Asian and Hispanic students, and smaller Black and multiracial populations. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in the data provided, so parents of children with those needs would want to ask the school directly about support structures.
Enrollment runs from pre-K through grade five, making it a full elementary pathway. Grades three through five are tested; grades below that are not, so there are no state assessment gaps to explain away for the younger cohort. No graduation rate applies here, since the school ends at fifth grade.
Two district-level changes matter for families thinking ahead. All District 28 elementary schools are now operating under NYC Reads, the citywide mandate that requires schools to use one of three approved reading curriculums built on the science of reading, replacing the era when principals could assemble their own approach. As publicly reported, the mandate has been modestly loosened to give teachers more pacing flexibility, but district and city officials have said it is permanent. Separately, the city has expanded its Gifted and Talented program to include a third-grade entry point in all 32 districts, including District 28, which has historically had some of the stronger borough-level G&T options. Families eyeing accelerated programming for their children would want to understand how PS 175 itself connects to those pathways.
Looking further out, Queens High School for the Sciences, the borough's only specialized high school with reserved seats for Districts 27, 28, and 29 students, is publicly reported to be relocating to a new, larger building in Jamaica for the 2026-27 school year, with plans to grow enrollment substantially by 2029-30 and gain full facilities it currently lacks. That matters for families whose PS 175 children are now in early grades and will eventually be navigating high school admissions.
Rego Park itself is in active development. Multiple new residential towers have opened or broken ground along Queens Boulevard in recent years, and a new Queens Public Library branch is under construction on 63rd Drive, expected to open by the end of 2028. The neighborhood is well connected by subway and bus, with the M and R trains running through the 63rd Drive station and several local and express bus routes serving the area. Housing costs run below the New York State median and have been rising modestly year over year, a relevant consideration for families weighing this area against other parts of Queens.
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