P.S. 117 J. Keld / Briarwood School

Both ELA (65.4%) and math (73.3%) proficiency sit above the District 28 averages of about 62.8% in each subject, and the overall quality score of 2.77/4 edges out the district's 2.51 average. The 2025 numbers represent a sharp jump — ELA climbed roughly 21 percentage points year-over-year and math rose about 15 points — making this the school's strongest showing in the eight-year window on file. Grade-level results are consistent: third graders hit 78.8% proficiency in math, while fourth and fifth graders land in the 64–70% range across both subjects. Scores by grade are unusually even, suggesting solid instruction across cohorts rather than one standout class.

The survey picture is the school's quiet superpower. Teacher-reported safety is 99%, teacher trust in the principal is 97%, and 99% of teachers rate instruction quality positively — all well above district averages. Parents echo this: 91% are satisfied, 96% trust their child's teacher, and 95% trust the principal. The discipline record backs it up — zero suspensions across the past three years, against a district average suspension rate of about 0.37%. The one real climate flag is attendance: 90.6% is slightly below the district average, and 63.2% of students are chronically absent, meaning more than six in ten kids miss 10% or more of the school year. That's a meaningful gap even though the school itself doesn't appear to be the cause — it's a citywide post-pandemic pattern hitting hardest.

The student body mirrors its Queens neighborhood: 41% Hispanic, 33% Asian, 14% White, and 9% Black, plus small shares of Native American and multiracial students — a diversity index of 76%. About 70% of students qualify for economic need, which is meaningfully higher than the neighborhood's own 13.4% poverty rate would suggest, meaning the school draws from a wider economic area than its immediate census tract. Seventeen percent of students have IEPs, indicating a real commitment to inclusion. PTA fundraising, though, is unusually low at about $8 per student compared to a district average of nearly $165, which means classroom extras lean on teacher initiative rather than parent dollars.

Jamaica Hills-Briarwood is a solidly middle-income Queens neighborhood where the median household earns about $84,000 and 44% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher. About 39% of households own their homes — lower than the citywide rate — and the median home value sits around $612,000. Twenty-three percent of households have children at home, a healthy share that translates into a real family presence on the sidewalks. The neighborhood is more renters than owners, but stable enough that families put down roots.

Families can reach the school on foot from the F train at Sutphin Blvd (about 8 minutes), the E and F at Briarwood (about 9 minutes), or the E at Jamaica-Van Wyck (about 12 minutes). Three subway lines within reasonable walking distance makes car-free drop-off workable for most families in the area.