Aviation Career & Technical Education High School

Standardized proficiency data was not available in the snapshot provided, so it's hard to grade the school on the usual measures. What the data does show: Aviation CTE is a screened, career-and-technical school with explicit AP offerings and a program-richness score of 69.3/100, weighted toward math and science. The academic-heavy admissions bar — roughly 1 in 12 applicants gets in — suggests incoming students arrive prepared. Average class size of 24.5 is essentially identical to the district average, so it's not the small-class draw some families look for in a screened school.

The day-to-day climate looks unusually calm for a high school of nearly 2,000 kids. Total suspensions for the year were zero — a striking figure against a district average suspension rate of 0.18%. Parents report strong trust at every layer (93% with teachers, 95% with the principal), and 910 families took the survey, a robust response. The one softness in the survey picture is on the staff side: only 83% of teachers rate instruction quality as strong, well below the district average of 92%, and just 81% trust the principal compared to much higher parent trust. That gap between family enthusiasm and teacher sentiment is the climate story worth watching.

The student body leans Hispanic (45%) and Asian (37%), with smaller White (12%), Black (4%), Multi-Racial (1%), and Native American (1%) populations. The diversity index sits at 65%, and 66.7% of students qualify for economic need. Fifteen percent of students have IEPs and the school runs ELL support, so it serves a meaningfully mixed academic profile even within a screened frame. Sunnyside itself is a family-amenable neighborhood with 17% of households containing children and a healthy 44.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree.

Sunnyside is a tight-knit, working-and-middle-class Queens neighborhood with a median household income around $78,147 and a 12% poverty rate. Homeownership is low (21.7%) and the median home value runs about $659,546, so most families around here rent. Forty-four percent of adults hold a bachelor's degree, and the population skews toward renters and young families rather than long-term homeowners. Three subway stops converge within walking distance, making this one of the better-connected corners of western Queens.

Families can reach the school via the 7 train at 33 St-Rawson St (about a 3-minute walk) or 40 St-Lowery St (about a 6-minute walk), with additional access from the M and R lines at 36 St (about a 13-minute walk).