At a Glance
A screened Forest Hills middle school where math proficiency leads the district and parent trust runs unusually high.
Best suited for
Families looking for a screened middle school with strong math outcomes, an engaged parent community, and a Forest Hills commute, who are comfortable navigating a large school and want to be proactive about attendance.
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
- Math proficiency of 82.7% sits roughly 20 points above the district average and has climbed consistently since 2016.
- Parent-principal trust at 98% is unusually high for a school of this size.
- White students form the largest demographic group at 40%, a relatively uncommon profile for a screened NYC middle school.
- Screened admissions combined with strong results across all three tested grades signal a coherent academic culture.
- Sits in Forest Hills, where high homeownership and a 60.6% bachelor's-degree rate create an involved parent base.
Things to consider
- Chronic absenteeism at 78.1% is high and worth asking the school directly about — academic results are strong for those attending, but many students are missing too much school.
- Suspensions have tripled over three years (from 3 to 17) and the current rate is well above district average.
- PTA fundraising at $12 per student is dramatically below the district average of $165, suggesting a thinner parent-funded enrichment layer.
- Program richness score of 34.7/100 is modest — offerings beyond Accelerated/Honors and ELL Support appear limited.
- Science proficiency at 45.1% trails the school's own ELA and math results meaningfully.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 28
In a district where the average overall score is 2.51 out of 4, this school's 3.11 places it comfortably above typical. Among peer schools, it stands as the strongest middle-school option in this group, with math results that few other Queens schools match.
Academics
Math proficiency at 82.7% runs roughly 20 percentage points above the district average of 62.8%, and ELA at 72.8% also beats the district by about 10 points. The trajectory has been steadily upward since 2016, when math sat at 58.5% and ELA at 56.3%, with especially sharp gains in math from 2022 onward. Science proficiency of 45.1% lags behind the school's other measures, suggesting that is the academic pressure point worth watching. Across grades 6 through 8, results are remarkably consistent, with math holding around 82–83% at every level.
Culture
The day-to-day feel here looks confident on the adult side: 98% of teachers rate instruction quality highly, 98% trust the principal, and parent satisfaction sits at 94%. The attendance rate of 92.6% edges out the district average. But chronic absenteeism at 78.1% is high and deserves honest attention — many students are missing meaningful school time even as those present are clearly thriving academically. Discipline is also a story worth flagging: suspensions have climbed from 3 to 17 over three years, and the current rate of 1% is above the district average of 0.37%.
Community
White students are the largest group at 40%, followed by Asian (25%), Hispanic (24%), Black (7%), and multiracial students (4%) — a notably White-plurality makeup compared with most NYC public schools. The economic need index of 48 is moderate, lower than many city middle schools, reflecting the surrounding Forest Hills community where the median household income exceeds $104,000 and only 7.8% of residents live in poverty. About 15% of students have IEPs, and ELL Support is offered as the school's main language program.
Neighborhood
Forest Hills is a stable, middle-to-upper-middle-class neighborhood with a strong family footprint — about 18% of households include children, homeownership hovers near half, and 60.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. It's the kind of place where many parents are paying close attention to their kids' schools and expect results. Median home values around $608K signal a committed, long-term residential base rather than a transient one.
Families can reach the school from the 67 Av (M, R) station in about a 9-minute walk, with 63 Dr-Rego Park (M, R) about 10 minutes away and Forest Hills-71 Av (E, F, M, R) about 18 minutes on foot.
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) · 599 families responded (38% 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. 157 Stephen A. Halsey admits through 2 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Performing Arts ProgramScreened30 seats
- Stephen A. Halsey (J.H.S. 157)Unscreened433 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.
- 3Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 4Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. We don't have J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey's program list, so read how each of its programs admits on MySchools before you rank it.
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Rank 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. 157 Stephen A. Halsey a good school?
- On Motley, J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey earns an overall rating of 78/100 — 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 above the District 28 average.
- What grades does J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey serve?
- J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey serves grades 6 to 9.
- How do students get into J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey?
- J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey 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. 157 Stephen A. Halsey public, charter, or private?
- J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey is a public school in NYC Community School District 28.
- What neighborhood is J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey in?
- J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey is in Forest Hills, Queens.