At a Glance
A diverse Staten Island elementary where parents rave about the community but test scores sit below district norms.
Best suited for
Families who value a warm, diverse, low-discipline school community and are willing to engage closely with attendance and academic support — especially parents who can partner with teachers around the chronic absenteeism challenge.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Parent satisfaction, parent-teacher trust, and "strong relationships" all score 95-97%, signaling a genuinely welcoming school community.
- Zero suspensions over the last three reported years — a notably calm discipline environment.
- Teacher instruction quality rated at 100% — the highest possible mark on the NYC survey.
- A genuinely diverse student body with no single racial or ethnic group above 36%.
- Sharp academic rebound in 2025 from pandemic-era lows, particularly in ELA.
Things to consider
- Math proficiency (48.5%) trails ELA and is roughly 12 points below the district average — Grade 4 math at 36% is especially weak.
- Chronic absenteeism is at 70.2%, meaning the vast majority of students miss significant school, which can undercut any gains in classroom instruction.
- Only 45% of teachers trust the principal — a notable internal-climate gap even as parents feel heard.
- PTA fundraising is just $38 per student, well below the district's $141, which can limit enrichment programs and extras.
- Economic need index of 65% is higher than the surrounding neighborhood profile would predict — worth understanding if you're weighing it against your own circumstances.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 31
Within District 31, P.S. 11 sits in the middle-to-lower tier of elementary schools — peer schools like P.S. 35, Naples Street, and P.S. 5 score in the 96-99 range while P.S. 11's overall quality score of 2.04/4 trails the district average of 2.45.
Academics
ELA proficiency is 53.7% and math is 48.5% — both meaningfully below the district averages of roughly 61% in each subject. The trajectory is dramatic: scores bottomed out around 22% ELA and 34-35% math in 2022-2024 before nearly doubling in 2025. Grade 3 is the bright spot (57.6% ELA, 61.8% math), but Grade 4 math lags at just 36%. The overall quality score of 2.04/4 trails the district's 2.45, putting P.S. 11 below most of its peer schools.
Culture
The day-to-day feel is warm and family-friendly — 95% of parents are satisfied, 97% say there are strong relationships, and teachers rate instruction quality a perfect 100%. Zero suspensions over the past three years suggests a gentle, restorative approach. But there's a real disconnect to flag: only 45% of teachers trust the principal, even as 95% trust their colleagues. And chronic absenteeism is at 70.2%, meaning roughly seven in ten students miss 10% or more of school days — a serious barrier to academic recovery.
Community
P.S. 11 serves a genuinely mixed group: 36% Hispanic, 32% White, 16% Black, and 14% Asian, with a diversity index of 79%. About 65% of students qualify for economic need, which is notably higher than the surrounding neighborhood would suggest — the median household income nearby is over $81,000 and the poverty rate is just 10.2%. So this is a school drawing from a somewhat broader economic catchment than the immediate block. About 21% of students have IEPs, and the PTA raises only about $38 per student, far below the district average of $141.
Neighborhood
The school anchors a stretch of Staten Island's East Shore where most families own their homes (63%) and about one in five households include children. Median home values sit around $651,000 and a third of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher — solidly middle-class, owner-occupied, family-oriented. The neighborhood reads as a stable, commuter-belt kind of place.
Dongan Hills SIR station is about a 4-minute walk away, with Jefferson Av (SIR) about 12 minutes and Old Town (SIR) about 14 minutes on foot — easy access to the Staten Island Railway for families commuting in or out.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 152 families responded (56% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School has an attendance zone. At elementary level, in-zone students get a guaranteed seat. Every family still applies on MySchools: the application confirms the zoned seat, and ranking other schools doesn't cost you it.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Check that your address is inside the zone — zones change, so confirm it before you sign a lease.
- 2Apply during the kindergarten application, even with a zoned seat.
- 3Rank this school along with any others you'd take, in true preference order.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School earns an overall rating of 51/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 31 average.
- What grades does P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School serve?
- P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School?
- P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School is a public school in NYC Community School District 31.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School in?
- P.S. 11 Thomas Dongan School is in Grasmere-Arrochar-South Beach-Dongan Hills, Staten Island.