At a Glance
A small Southeast Queens zoned school where families trust the principal but teachers don't — and test scores just had a wild year
Best suited for
Families zoned for the school who value small enrollment, a strong parent-principal relationship, and a no-suspension culture — and who are willing to engage directly with leadership about the teacher-climate signals.
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
- Zero suspensions for three consecutive years — exceptionally rare for a city elementary
- Parents give the principal a 96% trust rating, among the stronger parent-leadership scores in the district
- 2025 state test scores nearly doubled in ELA from the prior year, the steepest single-year jump in the data
- Grade 4 students post 75% ELA proficiency, well above the school's overall and district averages
- Small enrollment of about 300 students keeps classes intimate and the school feeling tight-knit
Things to consider
- Teacher-principal trust at 28% is a real warning sign that the staff experience is struggling even while families feel served
- Teacher-reported safety at 79% trails the district by 15 percentage points — worth asking the school directly about
- Chronic absenteeism affects 55% of students, which limits the impact of any classroom gains
- Pre-2025 scores were consistently weak (often in the 18-35% range), so this year's spike needs confirmation before counting on it
- No nearby subway means this school mainly works for families who drive or have a reliable bus pickup
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 29
Relative to District 29 peers, P.S. 134 sits in the lower-middle of zoned public schools on the dashboard score (1.95/4 vs district avg 2.21), trailing standouts like P.S. 176 (81/100) and well behind the Success Academy charters. It's a typical southeast Queens zoned school academically, neither a district standout nor among the lowest performers.
Academics
The 2025 results of 51.9% ELA proficiency and 45.6% math proficiency are below district averages of 56.9% and 53.7%, but the trajectory is dramatic: ELA swung from 19.5% in 2024 to 51.9% this year, and math climbed from 32.9% to 45.6%. Whether this represents a real breakthrough or a one-year cohort effect is the open question — the prior decade's scores mostly hovered between 18% and 44%, so it's too early to call this a trend. Grade 4 performance is the bright spot (75% ELA, 60.5% math), while Grade 5 math at 31.9% lags significantly behind.
Culture
The day-to-day climate splits sharply between home and school: parents feel heard and trust the principal deeply (95-96% trust), but teachers rate instruction quality at just 65% (district avg 88%) and trust in the principal at only 28%. Teacher-reported safety sits at 79% versus a district average of 94%, which warrants attention. On the upside, there were zero suspensions in any of the last three years — a genuinely rare finding. Attendance at 88.4% trails the district's 90.9%, and chronic absenteeism at 55% means more than half of students miss enough school to be flagged, which drags down everything else.
Community
P.S. 134's student body is majority Black (55%), with sizable Asian (18%) and Hispanic (22%) populations, reflecting Hollis's working- and middle-class mix of Caribbean-American, South Asian, and African-American families. The surrounding neighborhood has a median household income of about $87,000 and a homeownership rate of 53%, signaling stable, established households — though 73.7% of students qualify for economic need, suggesting the school draws from a wider slice than the immediate census area. About 16% of students have IEPs, in line with citywide norms.
Neighborhood
Hollis is a quiet, predominantly owner-occupied residential pocket in southeast Queens where about 53% of households own their homes and median values sit around $685,000 — comfortable but not flashy. Just over a quarter of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree, and 8.7% of residents live below the poverty line, a notably low figure for the area. Families with children make up 15.4% of households, so this is a stable, multigenerational community rather than a young-family enclave.
There are no subway stations within a 20-minute walk of the school, so families rely on cars, school buses, or local MTA bus routes for the commute.
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) · 148 families responded (49% rate)
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. 134 Hollis 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. 134 Hollis 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. 134 Hollis a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 134 Hollis earns an overall rating of 49/100 — 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 29 average.
- What grades does P.S. 134 Hollis serve?
- P.S. 134 Hollis serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 134 Hollis?
- P.S. 134 Hollis admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 134 Hollis public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 134 Hollis is a public school in NYC Community School District 29.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 134 Hollis in?
- P.S. 134 Hollis is in Hollis, Queens.