Community Voices Middle School

ELA proficiency at 44.4% trails the district average of about 57%, but the trajectory tells a clearer story — moving from 23.2% in 2016 to 44.4% in 2025, this is one of the more dramatic improvement arcs in southeast Queens. Math is the harder conversation: at 23%, it sits less than half the district average of 54%, and dropped from 31.7% in 2024 to 23% in 2025. Scores by grade reveal the school's middle-school dynamic — 6th graders arrive at just 4.7% math proficiency and 30.3% ELA, while 8th graders reach 32.4% in math and 54.9% in ELA. The school clearly develops students as they move through, but the sixth-grade math foundation is the entry point that needs the most support.

The trust picture here is split. Parents love this school — 95% trust the principal, 94% trust their child's teacher, and 89% are satisfied overall, making this one of the more cohesive family communities in the district. The teacher side tells a different story: only 67% of teachers say their colleagues trust each other, and teacher-principal trust runs at 80%, both meaningfully below comparable district figures. Discipline is the other thing parents should ask about: at 14 suspensions last year (5% of students), the suspension rate is more than five times the district average, and the trend is rising — 9 suspensions in 2021-22, 8 in 2022-23, 14 in 2023-24.

This is overwhelmingly a school for Black families in southeast Queens — 82% of students are Black, with 11% Hispanic and small shares of Asian, White, Multi-Racial, and Native American students. The diversity index of 37% confirms a fairly homogeneous student body, and the school population carries more economic weight than the surrounding neighborhood, which has a $109K median household income and a 10.1% poverty rate. With 72.9% of students qualifying for economic need and 26% on IEPs, families choosing this school are choosing it deliberately rather than by default.

Springfield Gardens (South)-Brookville is a stable, family-oriented southeast Queens neighborhood where nearly two-thirds of residents own their homes and the median household income exceeds $109,000. Poverty runs at about 10%, lower than the city average, and 25.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — solidly middle-class with a college-educated minority shaping the area. About 17.4% of households include children, making it a recognizably family neighborhood though less child-dense than parts of central Queens.

There are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk of the school, so most families will drive, get dropped off, or use local and express buses. This is a car-dependent part of Queens.