At a Glance
A screened Kensington middle school offering one of the district's deepest activity menus, where strong family trust coexists with academic results still working toward the District 20 bar.
Best suited for
Families who want a screened middle school with an unusually rich menu of arts, STEM, and academic electives — and who are willing to ask direct questions about attendance patterns and the teacher-leadership gap before enrolling.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Program richness score of 100/100 — one of the most extensive activity menus in District 20
- Screened admissions with a District G&T program, meaning students are selected rather than zoned
- Formal Specialized High School Test Preparation offered as an elective, not just an add-on
- Wide arts programming including Band, Dance, Theater, and Art alongside the usual roster
- Regents Living Environment offered to 8th graders, giving students an early college-credit pathway
- Student-run Ditmas News Network and a Stock Market club, suggesting real production-based electives
Things to consider
- Test scores trail the district by 14-20 percentage points despite years of improvement
- Chronic absenteeism is high (66.7% school-wide) and the Asian subgroup hits 73.5% — worth asking how the school is addressing this
- Teacher trust in leadership sits at 73% while family trust sits at 97% — that gap is worth probing on a tour
- PTA fundraising is minimal at $2 per student versus a district average of $61, so extracurriculars likely lean on school budget rather than parent dollars
- Total enrollment is large at 958, so students who prefer a smaller, tighter-knit middle school may want to compare options
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 20
With an overall score of 2.06 out of 4, Ditmas sits below the District 20 average of about 2.75. On program richness, however, its 100/100 actually tops the listed peer schools, meaning what this school offers outside the classroom outpaces many of its neighbors. District 20 is generally a strong-performing district, so trailing its average is not the same as trailing the city.
Academics
Test scores here have nearly doubled since 2016 — ELA proficiency moved from 30.7% to 51.7%, and math from 27.1% to 51.4% — a real, sustained climb. But against District 20's averages (roughly 66% ELA and 71% math), the school is still trailing by about 14 to 20 percentage points on both subjects. Eighth graders outperform sixth graders by a wide margin (60.8% vs 46% in ELA; 55.3% vs 45.2% in math), suggesting students make meaningful gains during their three years here. Science proficiency sits at 46.4%.
Culture
The family-side numbers here are unusually strong: 95% parent satisfaction, 97% trust in the principal, and 95% trust in teachers. The teacher-side tells a different story — only 82% rate instruction quality positively (district average 92%) and just 73% report trusting school leadership. Discipline spiked to 23 suspensions in 2022-23 but dropped back to 9 in 2023-24, and the overall 1% suspension rate is modestly above the district's 0.3%. The day-to-day feel, based on surveys, is a school where families feel heard and connected, but where the staff-administration relationship carries some friction.
Community
With 42% Asian, 31% Hispanic, 13% Black, and 13% White enrollment, this is one of the more diverse middle schools in the borough — a 74% diversity index. The economic need index of 82.4% indicates a predominantly low-income student body, while 19% of students have IEPs and the school runs a District G&T program. With 958 students and an average class size of 25, this is a full-sized, busy middle school where students come from across the borough.
Neighborhood
Kensington sits between Ditmas Park and Borough Park, with a median household income of about $82,763 — solid middle-class territory where roughly half of adults hold a bachelor's degree. About 22% of households include children, home values run around $871,000, and the homeownership rate near 35% suggests a mix of owners and renters. The neighborhood's immigrant character and family density show up clearly in the school's enrollment mix.
Three subway lines are within walking distance: the F at Ditmas Avenue (about an 8-minute walk), the Q at Cortelyou Road (about 9 minutes), and the B and Q at Newkirk Plaza (about 10 minutes).
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Science Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Science exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 433 families responded (50% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. J.H.S. 062 Ditmas admits through 2 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Superintendent's Gifted ProgramScreened100 seats
- Zoned ProgramZoned224 seats
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Screened programs rank 4th-grade course grades, so last year's report card is the one that counts.
- 3Zoned programs give priority to students who live in the zone — a priority, not a guaranteed seat.
- 4Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is J.H.S. 062 Ditmas a good school?
- On Motley, J.H.S. 062 Ditmas earns an overall rating of 52/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 20 average.
- What grades does J.H.S. 062 Ditmas serve?
- J.H.S. 062 Ditmas serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into J.H.S. 062 Ditmas?
- J.H.S. 062 Ditmas is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
- Is J.H.S. 062 Ditmas public, charter, or private?
- J.H.S. 062 Ditmas is a public school in NYC Community School District 20.
- What neighborhood is J.H.S. 062 Ditmas in?
- J.H.S. 062 Ditmas is in Kensington, Brooklyn.