At a Glance
A large screened middle school where math leads, the program catalog is unusually deep, and the student body looks a lot like the Sunset Park-Borough Park border it sits on.
Best suited for
Families prioritizing strong math outcomes and a deep extracurricular menu — especially STEM, arts, and Specialized High School prep — who are comfortable with a large screened middle school and don't need to be the first in their neighborhood to send their child. A good fit for Sunset Park and Borough Park families who want their middle schooler close to home and on the subway D line.
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 78.2% is nearly seven points above the district average, with every grade level performing in the high 70s
- Program richness score of 100/100 — one of the most packed extracurricular menus in the district, including Lego Robotics, Coding, Debate, School Newspaper, Specialized High School Test Prep, and Saturday Academy
- Real arts depth for a middle school: Concert Band, Orchestra, Drama, Theater, and Fine Arts are all listed
- An Accelerated/Honors academic track for middle schoolers
- Specialized High School Test Preparation is built into the program, useful for families eyeing the specialized exam route
Things to consider
- ELA proficiency at 56.1% sits about ten points below the district average — if reading and writing outcomes matter most to your family, ask how the school is closing that gap
- Chronic absenteeism at 87.5% is very high, with 95.3% of Asian students flagged chronically absent — the underlying story (recent-arrival travel patterns? extended family obligations?) is worth asking about directly
- Suspensions rose from 5 to 22 between 2021-22 and 2022-23 and held steady — a 2% rate that's above the district average
- PTA fundraising at $5 per student is a tiny fraction of the $61-per-student district average, which can mean fewer enrichment extras funded by parents and less parent-organized community
- With 1,249 students, this is a large middle school — your child won't get the intimacy of a smaller screened program
- Only 1% Black enrollment — families seeking cross-cultural exposure across the Black-white spectrum won't find much here
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 20
J.H.S. 220 sits in the middle of District 20's middle school pack. Its overall score of 2.69/4 is just below the district average of 2.75, and its math performance is among the stronger numbers in the district. Peer schools like I.S. 187 Christa McAuliffe (program score 94/100) and the Brennan School (83/100) score higher on program richness comparisons, though J.H.S. 220 itself clocks 100/100 on that metric — a reminder that scoreboards don't always tell the full story.
Academics
Math is the headline here: 78.2% proficiency is nearly seven points above the district average of 71.2%, and 8th graders aren't carrying the school — 6th, 7th, and 8th grades all land in the high 70s. ELA tells a different story. At 56.1%, it's about ten points below the district average of 66.2%, and that gap has held for several years. The long view is encouraging though — ELA has roughly doubled since 2016 (28.7% to 56.1%), and math has climbed from 45.9% to 78.2% over the same period. Science proficiency at 70.6% is solid. The overall accountability score of 2.69/4 sits just below the district average of 2.75, mostly dragged down by the ELA picture.
Culture
Families feel heard here. Parent-teacher trust is 97%, parent-principal trust is 96%, and parent satisfaction at 94% matches the district average. Teachers rate their trust in the principal at 97% and instruction quality at 94%, slightly above the district's 92.2%. The day-to-day climate sounds like a place where adults are aligned. Discipline is the thing parents should ask about: suspensions jumped from 5 in 2021-22 to 22 in 2022-23 and stayed there in 2023-24, putting the suspension rate at 2% — above the district average of 0.32% but not extreme for a school this size. Attendance rate of 95.7% is above the district average, which suggests students who show up are showing up consistently.
Community
The student body is 57% Asian and 37% Hispanic, with small White (5%) and Black (1%) populations — a mirror of the surrounding Sunset Park-Borough Park border, which is one of the city's most immigrant-dense corridors. The diversity index is 49%, meaning the school isn't internally mixed so much as it reflects one fairly specific neighborhood demographic. Economic need index of 86.9% means most students qualify for free lunch, and 18% have IEPs. ELL support is offered.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Sunset Park (East)-Borough Park (West) area, where median household income is around $57,455 and the poverty rate is 25.8%. Roughly 30% of households include children, the homeownership rate is just 22%, and only 21% of adults have a bachelor's degree — a neighborhood built on renters, working families, and recent arrivals rather than college-educated professionals. The median home value near $933,000 reflects the broader Brooklyn market more than the local income, a familiar tension in outer-borough neighborhoods.
The D line is the workhorse here. Fort Hamilton Pkwy is about an 8-minute walk, 50 St is about 10 minutes, and 9 Av is about 11 minutes — families from the eastern Sunset Park side will find the Fort Hamilton Pkwy stop most convenient.
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) · 720 families responded (58% 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. 220 John J. Pershing admits through 4 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Federal Magnet ProgramUnscreened75 seats
- Spanish Dual Language ProgramScreened0 seats
- The Superintendent's Gifted ProgramScreened75 seats
- Zoned ProgramZoned341 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.
- 4Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 5Rank 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. 220 John J. Pershing a good school?
- On Motley, J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing earns an overall rating of 67/100 — 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 in line with the District 20 average.
- What grades does J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing serve?
- J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing?
- J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing 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. 220 John J. Pershing public, charter, or private?
- J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing is a public school in NYC Community School District 20.
- What neighborhood is J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing in?
- J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing is in Sunset Park (East)-Borough Park (West), Brooklyn.