I.S. 141 The Steinway

ELA proficiency of 66.5% sits about 6 points above the District 30 average of roughly 61%, and the school has held between 63% and 67% for the last several years — a steady, slightly upward track. Math is the weaker side at 55.5%, running about 7 points below the district average of 62%, and it's volatile: the school posted 62.3% in 2023, dropped to 55.5% in 2025, and the grade-level breakdown is striking. Seventh-graders scored 66.8% in math, while eighth-graders landed at just 44.2% — a 22-point gap that suggests students who reach algebra-level work are struggling more than those still on grade-level math. The overall accountability score of 2.44 out of 4 is right at the district average of 2.46, so this is a school performing near the middle of the pack overall, with a real ELA strength and a real math concern.

The day-to-day feel here reads warm and orderly. Teacher-reported instruction quality is 98%, well above the district average of 91%, and 98% of teachers say they trust their principal — both numbers signal a faculty that feels supported. Families agree: 96% say they trust the principal, 94% trust their child's teacher, and 92% are generally satisfied (a touch below the district's 93%). The discipline picture is unusually calm — only 2 suspensions in the most recent year, a sharp drop from 4 the year before, and the suspension rate of 0% is well below the district's 0.28%. The number parents should sit with, however, is chronic absenteeism at 75.4%, meaning three out of four students here miss enough school days to be flagged. Even so, the daily attendance rate of 92.4% matches the district average almost exactly, so most students are showing up most days — it's the chronic absence threshold that's being missed.

About 1,100 students walk through the doors, and the building reflects the surrounding Steinway neighborhood: White students make up 43%, Hispanic students 34%, Asian students 14%, and Black students 5%, with a smaller share of multiracial and Native American students. The school is notably more White and less Black than the citywide average, but the 72% diversity index reflects real mix across backgrounds. About 16% of students have IEPs, on the higher side for a middle school, and the school's economic need index of 60.9 sits in the middle range — meaning a majority of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, but it's not a high-poverty building.

The Steinway and Ditmars area is a middle-to-upper-middle-income pocket of western Queens. Median household income around the school is about $93,800, poverty sits at 10.1%, and more than half of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — among the higher-education neighborhoods in the borough. Just over 17% of households have children, and homeownership is relatively low at 29.8% despite a median home value near $974,000, which tells you this is largely a renter neighborhood with expensive housing. The immigrant character of the area still shows up in the school demographics, where Hispanic and Asian families together make up close to half the student body.

Most families arrive on foot from within Steinway and the surrounding blocks. The nearest subway is Astoria-Ditmars Blvd on the N and W lines, about an 8-minute walk, with Astoria Blvd on the same lines about 17 minutes on foot for those coming from farther south.