P.S. 050 Frank Hankinson

Test scores here are well above District 31's averages — 81.7% ELA proficiency and 86.6% Math proficiency versus district averages of roughly 61% in each subject. Math has been particularly strong, hovering around 85–90% for the past four years. The trajectory shows steady improvement from 2016 (68% ELA, 72.7% Math) through the post-pandemic years. One thing to flag: ELA dipped slightly to 79.2% in 2024 before bouncing back to 81.7% in 2025, so it's not a perfectly flat line at the top. The overall quality score of 3.37 out of 4 places this school comfortably in the top tier of the district.

The climate numbers here are striking. Parent trust in teachers and the principal both sit at 98%, teacher-reported safety is at 100%, and 100% of survey respondents said students have strong relationships with adults — an unusual result that suggests a tight, well-functioning community. Teacher trust in instructional quality is at 99%. The day-to-day feel, based on these numbers, is calm and connected rather than crisis-driven. Discipline has been nearly non-existent: just one suspension in 2023–24 after two prior years of zero. The one number parents should look at carefully is chronic absenteeism at 81% — high even though the overall attendance rate is a healthy 93.6%. This means many students show up most days but miss enough school to qualify as chronically absent. It's a citywide pattern, not unique to this school, but worth asking about at a tour.

This is a racially mixed school by Staten Island standards: about 51% White, 28% Asian, 16% Hispanic, and 3% Black or multiracial. The diversity index of 67% is healthy, and the composition mirrors the surrounding neighborhood fairly well — Oakwood-Richmondtown skews white and middle class, but with a noticeable Asian community and a growing Hispanic presence. About 43% of students qualify for economic need, which is lower than many city schools but higher than the neighborhood's overall affluence might suggest, meaning this school pulls in some families from outside the immediate zoned area or from more modest circumstances within it.

The neighborhood around P.S. 050 is solidly middle class. Median household income is $107,562, the poverty rate is 7.7%, and 69% of homes are owner-occupied — a real suburb-in-the-city feel. Just under a quarter of households have children, and about a third of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Median home values around $649,000 tell you this is established, settled family territory where people tend to stay. There's no subway running directly through Oakwood-Richmondtown; the commute to most of the school zone is by car or school bus.

Families without a car rely on the Staten Island Railway — Oakwood Heights station is about a 7-minute walk from the school, with Bay Terrace about 15 minutes and New Dorp around 19 minutes on foot.