P.S. 063 Old South

P.S. 063 outperforms District 27 on both subjects: 62.2% ELA proficiency versus a district average near 56%, and 66% in math versus about 57%. What's more striking is the trajectory — ELA proficiency climbed from 40.3% in 2022 to 62.2% in 2025, a roughly 22-point gain in three years, and math moved from 44.7% to 66% over the same stretch. Scores are reasonably consistent across grades 3–5, with fifth graders posting the strongest ELA mark (68.6%). The school's overall quality review score of 2.56 out of 4 sits above the district average of 2.27.

The day-to-day feel is shaped by an unusual split: families clearly love this school, but the staff-administration relationship is more complicated. Parent satisfaction is 95%, parent-teacher trust is 97%, and parent-principal trust is 96% — all well above district averages — and 82% of families completed the survey, which is itself a signal of how plugged-in this community is. Teacher-reported safety (96%) and teacher collegial trust (77%) are healthy. But teacher-principal trust is only 60%, a notable gap from the family-side numbers, and teacher-reported instruction quality (87%) lands below the district average of about 91%. Discipline is essentially a non-issue — zero suspensions reported in each of the last three years. The single most important climate number is the chronic absenteeism rate of 62.9%, meaning nearly two of every three students missed enough school to be flagged, even though the overall attendance rate (90.3%) is slightly above average.

P.S. 063 is a predominantly Asian and Hispanic school — about 41% Asian and 43% Hispanic, with smaller shares of Black, White, Native American, and multiracial students. That mix tracks closely with Ozone Park's broader character, where roughly two-thirds of residents identify as Hispanic or Asian and nearly a quarter of households include children. The school's diversity index is 68%, reflecting meaningful variety within the two largest groups. About 13% of students have IEPs, and the economic need index of 66.8 indicates a majority of students come from lower-income households, even though the surrounding neighborhood itself is solidly middle-income.

Ozone Park is a stable, family-oriented corner of southern Queens. The median household income around the school is about $83,000, the poverty rate is 9.4% (notably low for NYC), 58% of homes are owner-occupied, and the median home value is just under $700,000. About 23% of households include children, and 27% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher — a solidly middle-class, homeowner-heavy profile for New York City. It's the kind of place where many families have put down roots, which tends to mean engaged parents and long-tenured neighbors.

The A line is the workhorse here. Rockaway Blvd station is about a six-minute walk, 88 St is about seven minutes, and 104 St is roughly twelve minutes — all on the A. That's a single line connecting families to JFK, Broadway Junction, and onward into Manhattan.