At a Glance
A high-achieving neighborhood elementary in a car-dependent, family-owned pocket of eastern Queens
Best suited for
Families who live in the zone, drive or bus their kids to school, and want a stable, well-resourced elementary with consistently strong academics and an engaged parent community.
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
- Math proficiency has stayed in the 88–94% range for nearly a decade, signaling genuine instructional consistency rather than a one-year spike
- Three straight years with zero suspensions, paired with 100% of teachers reporting strong relationships with students
- PTA raises more than triple the district average per student (~$323 vs. ~$96), funding extras that many schools can't afford
- Family survey response rate of 69% — unusually high engagement for a public elementary
- Located in a low-poverty, high-homeownership neighborhood where demographic and student-body profile closely mirror each other
Things to consider
- Admissions are zoned, so living in the zone matters more than the school's reputation — there's no application path for families outside the attendance area
- No subway within walking distance; a car or school bus is essentially required, which is fine for locals but a real barrier for anyone relying on transit
- The demographic mix is heavily Asian/White and the economic need index is low — families seeking a more racially or economically diverse setting won't find it here
- IEP enrollment is just 9%, which may indicate limited programming for students with significant special education needs, or could reflect the population simply needing less of it
- The 2024 ELA dip (82.1%) before bouncing back is worth noticing — strong, but not invulnerable to year-to-year swings
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 26
In a district full of high-performing schools, P.S. 188 sits comfortably above average — behind only P.S. 98 Douglaston and P.S. 94 David D. Porter on the peer list, but ahead of Oakland Gardens and Crocheron. It's a top-tier choice within an already strong district.
Academics
Proficiency rates run roughly 13 points above the district average in both ELA (88.9% vs. ~75.8%) and math (89.9% vs. ~80.2%), with third-graders especially strong at 94.3% in both subjects. Math has been remarkably steady in the high 80s to mid-90s for nearly a decade, while ELA has bounced around in the low-to-high 80s before bouncing back to 88.9% in 2025. The overall rating of 3.58 out of 4 puts this school clearly above the district mean and among the higher-scoring elementaries in the area.
Culture
Day-to-day, this school reads as calm and orderly — attendance is 96.1% (above the district's 94.4%) and the school has logged zero suspensions for three straight years. Parent surveys are striking: 97% trust the teachers, 96% rate instruction as high-quality, and 100% say strong relationships exist between teachers and students. The 69% family survey response rate is unusually high, suggesting parents are actively engaged rather than just attending. With 438 families weighing in, this is one of the more confident school communities in the borough.
Community
The student body is 68% Asian and 22% White, with smaller Hispanic (6%), multiracial (3%), and Black (1%) populations — a very different mix from the citywide average and reflective of the surrounding neighborhood. Only 9% of students have IEPs and the economic need index of 26 is far below the citywide figure, pointing to a relatively low-poverty, well-supported population. The demographic profile lines up closely with the neighborhood's homeownership rate and middle-to-upper-middle-income character.
Neighborhood
Oakland Gardens-Hollis Hills is a low-density, almost suburban-feeling corner of eastern Queens, with 72.5% homeownership and a median home value near $595,000. About a quarter of households include kids, and just 5.8% of residents live below the poverty line — roughly half the citywide rate. More than half of adults hold a bachelor's degree, and the median household income comfortably clears six figures. It's the kind of place where families plant roots rather than rent.
This school sits beyond a 20-minute walk of any subway station, so most families get here by car or school bus rather than transit.
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) · 438 families responded (69% 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. 188 Kingsbury 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. 188 Kingsbury 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.
Make this school part of your plan
Everything on this page is yours to read. An account keeps your research in one place.
No credit card required
Compare head-to-head
Explore nearby
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is P.S. 188 Kingsbury a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 188 Kingsbury earns an overall rating of 90/100 — 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 above the District 26 average.
- What grades does P.S. 188 Kingsbury serve?
- P.S. 188 Kingsbury serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 188 Kingsbury?
- P.S. 188 Kingsbury admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 188 Kingsbury public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 188 Kingsbury is a public school in NYC Community School District 26.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 188 Kingsbury in?
- P.S. 188 Kingsbury is in Oakland Gardens-Hollis Hills, Queens.