At a Glance
Borough Park's screened middle school pairs an unusually broad program menu with a student body that's been steadily climbing in math.
Best suited for
Families looking for a screened middle school with deep programming — especially in STEM, arts, and specialized high school prep — who are comfortable navigating a high-needs environment and want to be active partners around 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
- Program richness score of 100/100 — the menu runs from Lego Robotics and Science Olympiad to chess, gardening, and a step team.
- Specialized High School Test Preparation is built into the extracurricular offerings, suggesting a focus on the city's selective high school pipeline.
- Student body is 52% Asian — among the higher concentrations you'll find in a District 20 middle school.
- Math proficiency has risen nearly 14 percentage points since 2016, a sustained climb that outpaces most peers.
- Parent-teacher and parent-principal trust both land at 94% or higher, which is unusually strong for a middle school.
Things to consider
- Chronic absenteeism at 76.3% is striking — this is a number worth asking the school directly about.
- Suspension rate of 4% is roughly thirteen times the district average, even though total suspensions are flat year-over-year.
- ELA proficiency at 51.7% trails the district average of 66%, and the school has slipped from its 2022 peak.
- Family survey response rate of 32% means the parent satisfaction numbers come from a self-selecting group of engaged families.
- The school is screened, so admissions depends on the criteria the district uses — worth confirming before applying.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 20
With an overall score of 2.25 out of 4, the school sits below the District 20 average of 2.75 and trails most of its listed peers, including I.S. 187 (94/100) and the Madeleine Brennan School (83/100). It's a school on an upward trajectory rather than a top performer in the district today.
Academics
Math proficiency has climbed from 47.3% in 2016 to 61% in 2025 — a clear, multi-year upward trend that has held steady or improved every year since 2022. ELA has followed a more uneven path, peaking at 62.3% in 2022 before drifting back down to 51.7% in 2025. Both subjects sit below the district averages of 66% (ELA) and 71% (math), so the school is gaining ground rather than leading. Science proficiency at 35.9% is a relative weak spot and isn't reported at the district level for direct comparison.
Culture
The survey numbers here are warm: 94% of responding parents are satisfied, parent-teacher trust sits at 94%, and parent-principal trust at 95%. Teacher trust in instruction quality is 92%. But the day-to-day attendance picture is harder — chronic absenteeism stands at 76.3%, meaning roughly three out of four students miss enough school to qualify as chronically absent, even though the basic attendance rate of 92.9% is only slightly below the district's 94.2%. Discipline is also worth flagging: suspensions jumped from 4 in 2021-22 to 25 in both 2022-23 and 2023-24, putting the school's suspension rate at 4% — well above the district's 0.3%.
Community
More than half the students here are Asian (52%) and another third are Hispanic (33%), with white students making up 11% and Black students just 2% — a composition that sets this school apart from most Brooklyn middle schools. The economic need index of 87.9 means a high share of students come from low-income households, and 15% of students have IEPs. The diversity index lands at 62%, reflecting the mix of Asian and Hispanic families rather than broader racial variety. This is a school where the surrounding neighborhood's large families and immigrant roots are very visible in the classroom.
Neighborhood
Borough Park is one of Brooklyn's most family-dense neighborhoods, with 45.8% of households including children and a poverty rate of 32.8%. Median household income is $52,529, and only about one in five adults has a bachelor's degree, though the median home value of $1.16 million reflects how competitive the housing market is for the families who do live here. It's a neighborhood where strollers outnumber SUVs in many blocks.
The F train at Ditmas Avenue is about a 5-minute walk, the F at 18 Avenue is about 10 minutes, and the F and G at Church Avenue is roughly 13 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) · 195 families responded (32% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
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. 223 The Montauk admits through 3 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Federal Magnet ProgramUnscreened58 seats
- The Superintendent's Gifted ProgramScreened25 seats
- Zoned ProgramZoned166 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. 223 The Montauk a good school?
- On Motley, J.H.S. 223 The Montauk earns an overall rating of 56/100 — 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. 223 The Montauk serve?
- J.H.S. 223 The Montauk serves grades 6 to 8.
- How do students get into J.H.S. 223 The Montauk?
- J.H.S. 223 The Montauk 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. 223 The Montauk public, charter, or private?
- J.H.S. 223 The Montauk is a public school in NYC Community School District 20.
- What neighborhood is J.H.S. 223 The Montauk in?
- J.H.S. 223 The Montauk is in Borough Park, Brooklyn.