At a Glance
A Bellerose school where deep family trust meets a stubborn academic gap — but the trajectory is finally pointing up.
Best suited for
Families who value a warm, high-trust school community with strong teacher-family relationships and are comfortable with academic results that trail district norms — and who don't depend on the subway to get to school.
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-principal trust at 97% and teacher-principal trust at 98% — among the strongest climate signals in District 26.
- Teacher-reported safety at 100%, paired with just one suspension in 2023-24, suggests a genuinely calm, low-discipline environment.
- ELA proficiency reached a multi-year high in 2025, with math also rebounding sharply from a 2022 low — a clear upward trajectory after pandemic disruption.
- A demographic profile (69% Black, 14% Hispanic) that stands apart from the predominantly Asian-American student bodies at most District 26 peer schools.
- A meaningful ELL program alongside support for a sizeable IEP population (23%).
Things to consider
- ELA and math proficiency trail District 26 averages by 18 and 28 percentage points, and science sits below 50%.
- Chronic absenteeism at 67% is a serious concern, even though the in-school climate surveys glow.
- No subway within walking distance — getting here realistically requires a car or school bus.
- The overall 2.22/4 score places the school well below district peers that score in the 90s on the 100-point scale.
- The school's economic need index (42.8) is notably higher than what the surrounding Bellerose neighborhood's affluence might lead you to anticipate.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 26
District 26 is one of New York City's highest-performing districts, and P.S. 208's overall score puts it well behind peer schools that score 90 or above on the 100-point scale. Within the district, this is a school working to close a meaningful gap, not a typical member of the cohort.
Academics
ELA proficiency (58.2%) and math proficiency (52.6%) sit roughly 18 and 28 percentage points below District 26 averages, and science (48.2%) is also below half. The trajectory is the more hopeful story: ELA climbed from a 2023 low of 48.8% to a multi-year high of 58.2% in 2025, and math bounced back from a 2022 trough of 34.2% to 52.6%. The school isn't leading its high-performing district, but the recent trend line is clearly improving after pandemic-era disruption.
Culture
The contrast here is the headline: chronic absenteeism runs at 67.2%, meaning more than two-thirds of students miss enough school to be flagged, yet the survey picture is unusually bright. Teachers rate instruction quality at 98%, principal trust at 98%, and safety at 100%, and parent satisfaction sits at 92%. Discipline is essentially a non-issue, with only one suspension in 2023-24 (down from three the prior year). The day-to-day feel is warm and trusting, even as getting kids to school is clearly the school's biggest headwind.
Community
The student body is 69% Black, 14% Hispanic, and 9% Asian — a markedly different demographic profile than most District 26 schools, which tend to be heavily Asian-American. Twenty-three percent of students have IEPs, and the school runs an ELL support program. The surrounding Bellerose neighborhood is solidly middle-class (median income around $104K, 70% homeownership), but the school's economic need index of 42.8 suggests many families arrive with tighter budgets than the zip code's average would imply.
Neighborhood
Bellerose is a quiet, suburban-feeling pocket of eastern Queens where roughly 70% of households own their homes and median incomes hover around $104,000. About 23% of households have children, giving the area a settled, family-anchored character with a mix of single-family houses and a multi-generational population. Schools serve as real community anchors here, and the residential feel means most daily life orbits around homes, block-level shops, and the school calendar rather than a dense commercial strip.
No subway station is within a 20-minute walk, so families reach school by car, school bus, or local bus — this is a car-dependent corner of Queens.
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) · 250 families responded (41% 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./I.S. 208 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./I.S. 208 doesn't have an attendance zone of its own, so living nearby doesn't guarantee a seat here. Families apply on MySchools, and seats go to the school's priority groups first, then by random lottery.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the kindergarten application.
- 2Rank this school with your zoned school, if you have one, and 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./I.S. 208 a good school?
- On Motley, P.S./I.S. 208 earns an overall rating of 56/100 — 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 26 average.
- What grades does P.S./I.S. 208 serve?
- P.S./I.S. 208 serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S./I.S. 208?
- P.S./I.S. 208 admits by application through a random lottery, with no academic screen.
- Is P.S./I.S. 208 public, charter, or private?
- P.S./I.S. 208 is a public school in NYC Community School District 26.
- What neighborhood is P.S./I.S. 208 in?
- P.S./I.S. 208 is in Bellerose, Queens.