Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School

ELA proficiency of 54.2% trails the District 28 average of roughly 63%, and math at 39.1% is a full 23 points below the district's 62.8%. The 2025 ELA score is actually the school's highest in the eight-year window tracked, while math has bounced between roughly 30% and 47% with no clear upward trajectory — and grades 7 and 8 specifically post math rates in the low 30s, well under the 6th-grade level of 53.4%. Science proficiency lands at a middling 47.9%. The school's overall 1.87/4 rating sits clearly below the district's 2.51, which positions MELS as academically below average for the area. The story isn't collapse — it's plateau: students here are arriving underprepared, and the school is holding the line rather than leapfrogging peers.

The day-to-day feel of MELS is shaped almost entirely by its teachers — and they report an unusually strong workplace. Teacher trust in the principal is 97%, collegial trust among teachers is 99%, and instruction quality self-reports at 94%, all above the district averages. There were zero suspensions last year, a striking figure for a school serving a moderate economic-need population. The flip side is that 72.3% of students are chronically absent — one of the highest rates you'll see short of a school in crisis — and parent satisfaction sits at 84%, well under the district's 92.6%. Parents are clearly less bought-in than teachers. In practice, expect a calm, low-discipline building where the adults show up for each other, but getting teenagers through the door consistently is the open battle.

MELS draws a student body that's noticeably more Hispanic (43%) and Asian (23%) than the surrounding Forest Hills census tract, with smaller Black (13%), White (13%), and a unique Native American share of 4%. The diversity index of 82% places it firmly in the "very diverse" range. About 20% of students have IEPs, and the economic need index of 55.4 indicates a solidly middle-to-mixed-income population — roughly in line with the neighborhood, though somewhat more working-class than the Forest Hills median of $104K would suggest. Programs include AP courses, ELL support, and French/Spanish, signaling some intentional mix of college-track and language-learner pathways.

Forest Hills is an established, middle-to-upper-middle-class Queens neighborhood where about 49.8% of households own their homes and the median home value sits near $609,000. Roughly 18% of households have children, the poverty rate is low at 7.8%, and 60.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a highly educated, stable population. That stability, however, comes with a tradeoff in transit: there are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk of MELS, so most families drive or use buses. The disconnect between the relatively affluent neighborhood around the school and the higher-needs student body it serves is one of the more interesting features of MELS.

The school is beyond walking distance of the subway, so families will need a car, school bus, or local bus service to get there.