At a Glance
A neighborhood PK-8 where families feel deeply heard and academics are slowly catching up
Best suited for
Families who live in or near the Queensbridge-Ravenswood-Dutch Kills area, value a small school with deep family relationships and a rich activities menu, and are ready to partner closely with the school around attendance and academics — particularly families whose children need ELL or special education support.
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
- Exceptionally strong family-school relationships, with 100% of surveyed families reporting strong relationships and 97% trusting the principal
- A program roster that rivals much larger schools — band, theater, robotics, debate, chess, dance, science club, and a school newspaper
- A clear, sustained academic improvement trend over the past decade, with proficiency roughly doubling since 2016
- Near-zero suspension rate that has been trending down — from 5 to 1 over three years
- ELL support and Urban Advantage science programming for a high-needs student body
Things to consider
- Academic proficiency well below district averages in both ELA and math
- Chronic absenteeism at nearly 40% is a significant flag — far above the district's roughly 7% rate
- Teacher-reported safety at 80% is meaningfully below the district average of 94.8%
- 29% of students have IEPs, meaning special education capacity and quality matters a lot here
- Math scores drop sharply in the upper elementary years — grade 5 sits at 0% proficiency
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 30
Within District 30, P.S. 111 sits at the bottom of the profiled peer set. Schools like the Baccalaureate School for Global Education and the 30th Avenue School (G&T Citywide) score in the mid-to-high 90s, and P.S./I.S. 78 and Hunters Point Elementary both sit in the low-to-mid 80s. On the district's overall quality score, this school is well below average for a district that includes both strong neighborhood options and highly screened gifted programs.
Academics
State test proficiency sits well below district averages: 27% in ELA and 16.4% in math, compared with roughly 61% and 62% district-wide. The trend is the more hopeful story — ELA proficiency has more than doubled since 2016 (from 11.4% to 27%), and math has nearly doubled (from 8.6% to 16.4%). Scores are strongest in grade 8 (39% ELA, 31% math) and weakest in grades 4 through 6, where math proficiency bottoms out at 0% in grade 5. The school's overall quality score of 0.87 out of 4 is about a third of the district's 2.46 average.
Culture
The trust and satisfaction numbers here are some of the strongest in the dataset: 97% of parents trust the principal, 95% trust teachers, and 100% report strong family-school relationships. Teacher-to-teacher collegial trust is 82% and teacher-to-principal trust is 94%, suggesting a relatively cohesive staff. Discipline is also a bright spot — just 1 suspension in 2023-24, down from 5 in 2021-22. The honest caveats are attendance (85%, far below the district's 92.4% rate, with 39.8% chronic absenteeism) and teacher-reported safety at 80%, well under the district's 94.8%. The day-to-day feel for families who show up is warm and connected; the challenge is making sure more kids are showing up consistently.
Community
Roughly 51% of students identify as Black and 38% as Hispanic, with smaller Asian (4%), White (3%), Multiracial (1%), and Native American (2%) populations. This mirrors the surrounding neighborhood, where median household income is $70,542 and 19.4% of residents live in poverty. The school serves a high-needs population — the economic need index is 94.4% — and 29% of students have IEPs, which is meaningfully higher than typical. About 4% of students receive ELL support.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Queensbridge-Ravenswood-Dutch Kills area, a part of western Queens where the median household income is $70,542 and 19.4% of residents live below the poverty line. About 10% of households include children, and 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Homeownership is unusually low at 16% — most residents rent — though median home values are around $841,000, reflecting the area's recent development and waterfront proximity.
The closest subway is 21 St-Queensbridge on the M line, about a 7-minute walk. Queensboro Plaza, served by the 7, N, and W trains, is roughly 11 minutes on foot.
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
Science Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Science 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) · 191 families responded (45% rate)
Programs & Activities
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell 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. 111 Jacob Blackwell 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.
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell admits through 2 programs, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Jacob Blackwell (P.S. 111) Federal Magnet ProgramUnscreened55 seats
- Jacob Blackwell (P.S. 111) Zoned ProgramZoned
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Zoned programs give priority to students who live in the zone — a priority, not a guaranteed seat.
- 3Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 4Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
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. 111 Jacob Blackwell a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell earns an overall rating of 22/100 — 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 30 average.
- What grades does P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell serve?
- P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell serves grades Pre-K to 8.
- How do students get into P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell?
- P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell is a public school in NYC Community School District 30.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell in?
- P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell is in Queensbridge-Ravenswood-Dutch Kills, Queens.