New York City Academy for Discovery

At 41.7% ELA and 49.7% math, proficiency is still meaningfully below the District 27 averages of roughly 56% and 57%, respectively — these aren't yet top-of-class numbers. But the trend is the story: both subjects have climbed steadily since bottoming out in 2022, with ELA up roughly 17 points and math up over 16 points in three years. Third-graders post the strongest ELA results at 44.1%, while fourth-graders lead in math at 53.7%. The overall score of 1.83/4 trails the district average of 2.27, but a school moving this fast in this direction is one to watch, not to write off.

Day-to-day, this feels like a calm, tight-knit school. Parents give the experience a 93% satisfaction rating (above the district's 92.6%), and trust scores are striking — 97% of parents trust both the principal and their child's teacher, and 100% of teachers report strong relationships with families. Teacher-reported safety sits at 97%, well above the district's 92.6% average, and there have been zero suspensions in each of the last three reporting years. Daily attendance is solid at 89.8%, matching the district, but chronic absenteeism is high at 58.7% — meaning many students miss enough days to be flagged, even as the building itself feels present and stable. Asian students (71.4%) and Black students (63.2%) show the highest chronic absence rates, a pattern worth asking the school about directly.

The student body is 69% Hispanic, 16% Asian, 8% Black, and smaller shares of White, multiracial, and Native American students — a moderately diverse mix that mirrors Woodhaven's working- and middle-class, family-anchored character. The school's economic need index of 72.8% means most students come from households with limited resources, even as the surrounding neighborhood sits at a $83K median income and a 51.9% homeownership rate. About 23% of students have IEPs, a meaningfully higher share than many zoned schools, signaling a real commitment to inclusive classrooms.

Woodhaven is a quintessentially family-first Queens neighborhood — about 21% of households have children under 18, more than half of homes are owner-occupied, and the median household income of $83,000 supports a stable, multigenerational mix of longtime residents and newer families. Roughly a quarter of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits at 10%, low by city standards. It's the kind of place where school communities tend to overlap with block communities, which helps explain the unusually high parent trust scores at this school.

The school is a 5-minute walk from the Woodhaven Blvd station on the J and Z lines, and the 104 St station (also J/Z) is about 7 minutes away — commuting here is straightforward for anyone along the J/Z corridor, with the 85 St-Forest Pkwy J stop a 13-minute walk for those coming from further south.