Ps 43, Far Rockaway NY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Ps 43

PS 43 sits on Beach 29th Street in Far Rockaway, at the far eastern tip of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. The school runs from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, making it one of the few buildings in the area that keeps children through the end of middle school without a transition. It is a regular New York City public school, part of NYC Geographic District 27.

The neighborhood itself is genuinely coastal and genuinely apart. Jamaica Bay separates Far Rockaway from the rest of Queens, and you get there by causeway, bridge, or the A train's last stop at Mott Avenue. The community is working-class and diverse, with a mix of single-family homes, low-rise apartments, and public housing sitting alongside an Atlantic-facing boardwalk. The downtown core along Mott and Central Avenues is anchored by the transit hub, a Queens Public Library branch, and a modest commercial strip; residents commonly note that entertainment requires a trip off the peninsula. St. John's Episcopal Hospital, the only full-service acute care facility on the Rockaway, is a dominant local employer. The area is also in the middle of a large affordable-housing buildout, with several multi-building complexes either recently completed or under construction, so the neighborhood's physical character is actively changing.

The housing market here sits noticeably above the statewide median and well above the national median, with rents similarly elevated. That reflects Queens more broadly rather than local affluence; the community itself is one of the lower-income parts of the borough.

The student body reflects that reality directly. The vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, one of the higher economic-need shares you will find anywhere. The school is predominantly Black and Hispanic. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.

On state assessments, the picture is mixed and a parent should look at it honestly. Third-grade math is the relative high point, with roughly two in five students scoring proficient. ELA in grades four and five lands in a similar range. Science proficiency in both tested grades is in the low-to-mid twenties. The sharper concern is the middle school years: sixth and seventh grade math proficiency drops to very low levels, and sixth and seventh grade ELA follows a similar pattern, with a partial recovery by eighth grade in ELA. Eighth-grade math data was not meaningfully reported. Placed against other districts in Queens County, PS 43's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile of the comparison set. That is stated plainly because it is the honest read of the data, not as a verdict on anyone at the school.

Trend data was not available, so it is not possible from these figures to say whether performance has been moving up or down.

On the curriculum side, two citywide mandates now govern instruction here. The NYC Reads initiative, publicly reported as taking effect across all districts, requires elementary schools to use a phonics-based, science-of-reading curriculum rather than leaving material selection to individual principals. The NYC Solves math initiative, which took effect in the 2024-25 school year, requires middle schools to select from a pre-approved list of curricula emphasizing conceptual understanding. District 27 has its own pages documenting both rollouts. These are real changes to daily classroom instruction and worth asking the school about directly.

District 27 as a whole has experienced a meaningful enrollment decline over recent years and carries substantial excess seat capacity, including a notable surplus of middle school seats across the district. This can affect co-location decisions and school placements in ways that are difficult to predict from the outside; it is worth tracking through the district's planning process.

No graduation rate applies here, since the school does not serve high school grades. Program details beyond standard grade-level instruction were not available in the data provided.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

1 course 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
Math	43	30.0%

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 63% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 60% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 46 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 54% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 66%

School 6% · District 46% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 57% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 42% · ▼ 42 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 56% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 55% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 56% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 614%

School 14% · District 49% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 52% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 53% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 39% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 30% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 574%

School 74% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · district not reported

▼ 50 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

This schoolNEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #27, 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

Mathematics

Grade 8Lower-income6%Higher-income0%6 pp gap