Original Research by School Decision on Ps 51
PS 51 is a small public elementary school on 117th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens, serving children from pre-kindergarten through first grade. Because it stops at first grade, several standard measures simply do not apply here. New York State assesses reading and math beginning in third grade, so there are no state test results for PS 51, and the school has no graduation rate. The comparison metrics relative to other districts in Queens County are likewise not applicable for the same reason. This is not an evasion of weak data; it reflects the school's grade band.
The enrollment is small, concentrated entirely across pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade. A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this among schools that serve a predominantly low-income population. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, with Hispanic students making up the largest share, followed by Asian students, then white and Black students, with smaller numbers from other backgrounds. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.
For families thinking about curriculum, two district-wide changes are worth knowing. PS 51 sits within NYC Geographic District 27, which has implemented the citywide NYC Reads mandate requiring all elementary schools to use a phonics-based, science-of-reading curriculum, replacing the prior system in which individual principals chose their own reading materials. The shift began rolling out in 2023 and reached all districts the following school year. Early childhood programs use The Creative Curriculum; kindergarten and above draw from a set of pre-approved phonics programs. Separately, the NYC Solves math mandate launched in the 2024-25 school year, standardizing math curriculum toward conceptual understanding across the city, though that applies most directly to middle and high school grades that PS 51 does not yet serve. Parents may want to ask the school directly which specific literacy curriculum is in use and how the pre-K program integrates with the kindergarten sequence.
District 27 as a whole has seen a meaningful decline in total enrollment over recent years, carrying excess seat capacity across its buildings, particularly at the middle school level. This can affect co-location decisions and school sitings over time, something worth monitoring as children progress beyond PS 51's grade band.
Richmond Hill itself is a dense, walkable Queens neighborhood with a strong Indo-Caribbean and Punjabi Sikh presence, particularly along Liberty Avenue to the south and 101st Avenue. The area is built on a grid of low-rise rowhouses and prewar apartments, with commercial life running along Jamaica Avenue and Liberty Avenue rather than around any single center. Forest Park anchors the northern edge of the neighborhood with green space, trails, and ball fields. Transit access is strong, with J and Z trains on Jamaica Avenue and bus connections across the area. Housing costs in the zip code run well above the statewide median and have been rising, though the neighborhood remains more accessible than much of the city's housing market.
PS 51 is a neighborhood entry point into the NYC public school system for very young children, with a diverse peer group, a school of modest size for its grade span, and a high concentration of economically disadvantaged students. Families whose children are at or approaching school age and who live in the attendance zone would benefit from visiting the school directly, asking about staffing stability, pre-K programming specifics, and how the school supports multilingual learners, since those figures were not available here.
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