P.S. 050 Talfourd Lawn Elementary School

P.S. 050's proficiency rates land well below the District 28 average: 48.9% in ELA versus the district's 62.8%, and 53.9% in math versus 62.8%. The overall quality review score of 2.06 out of 4 also trails the district's 2.51. That said, scores have bounced around over the past decade in a fairly narrow band — there's no collapse, but also no breakout year. The 2025 numbers are an improvement over 2024 (ELA up from 42.2% to 48.9%, math up from 51.1% to 53.9%), which is a hopeful recent direction. Grade 5 ELA proficiency hits 61.3%, meaningfully stronger than grades 3 and 4, suggesting that students who stick with the school through upper elementary make real gains by the time they leave. The honest read: students are catching up to proficiency, not arriving there, and the school is doing meaningful work with a population facing real economic headwinds.

This is a school where adults report trusting each other. Parent-teacher trust sits at 97%, parent-principal trust at 96%, and 100% of teachers report strong relationships — numbers that exceed the district averages across the board. Teacher-reported safety is 92%, essentially matching the district. The standout is discipline: zero suspensions in each of the last three reported years, against a district average suspension rate of 0.37%. That's a meaningful signal that classroom management and culture are working day-to-day, even if academics lag. The honest tension here is attendance: while the daily attendance rate of 90.1% is only modestly below the district's 91.4%, chronic absenteeism is at 59.4% — meaning more than half of students miss 10% or more of the school year. That's a real headwind against academic growth and a parent should ask the school directly what they're doing about it.

P.S. 050's student body is one of the most distinctive in Queens. Hispanic students make up 45%, Asian students 23%, Black students 17%, and notably Native American students 12% — an unusually high share that reflects a specific community presence in the area and is worth understanding directly from the school. White students are about 2%. The diversity index of 75% confirms what those numbers suggest: this is a deeply mixed school where children grow up alongside peers from many backgrounds. About 14% of students have IEPs, and the economic need index of 68.3 signals that the majority of families are navigating financial pressure. PTA fundraising sits at just $2 per student versus the district average of $165 — a stark gap that probably reflects tight family budgets more than disengagement, given how strongly families respond to surveys.

Jamaica is one of Queens' most family-dense neighborhoods, with about a quarter of households including children and a median household income around $61,787 — solidly working class by city standards. Roughly 17% of residents live below the poverty line and only about 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree, while homeownership sits at a modest 24%, reflecting a renter-heavy area. The neighborhood has long been a landing place for immigrant families, and that character shows up directly in the school. Median home value around $616,000 gives a sense of the housing market, though most local families are renters.

Families reach P.S. 050 by subway via the E, J, and Z lines — Sutphin Blvd-Archer Av-JFK Airport is about an 8-minute walk and Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer is around 12 minutes. The F train at Sutphin Blvd is a longer walk of roughly 16 minutes.