Motley
District 2828
PublicDistrict 28 →Screened

Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School

160-20 GOETHALS AVENUE

At a Glance

A screened 6-12 health-sciences school in eastern Queens where 17 applicants compete for every sixth-grade seat

Best suited for

Academically motivated students who can clear a screened admissions bar and want a stable, calm, college-prep path from sixth grade through high school graduation — families who don't mind a longer commute and value consistency over school-size diversity.

Overall Rating

Grades 3–8

83
Meeting
Not MeetingApproachingMeetingExceeding
ELA89.5
Math75.3

Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8

High school

81
Meeting
Not MeetingApproachingMeetingExceeding
4-year graduation100
English Regents 70+72
Regents completion69

Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2025 report

Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.

How this is scored→

What stands out

  • Screened admissions with a 5.6% offer rate — among the most selective middle schools in all of Queens
  • ELA proficiency hit an all-time high in 2025 (89.5%), outpacing the district average by 27 percentage points
  • Zero suspensions in the most recent reporting year — a striking indicator of a calm, well-managed climate
  • Health-sciences focus running continuously from grade 6 through grade 12, unusual for a screened secondary school
  • Teachers rate their own instructional quality at a perfect 100%, suggesting strong classroom practice

Things to consider

  • Teacher-principal trust sits at just 55%, despite strong instructional quality ratings — there's a leadership-communication gap worth probing
  • Grade 8 math proficiency drops to 47.5%, far below grades 6 and 7 — the transition to Regents-level work appears to be a rough patch
  • No nearby subway; commutes will likely mean a car, bus, or a long walk from the F train
  • PTA fundraising is only $8 per student versus the district average of about $165 — families here appear less engaged with fundraising, or the school simply doesn't rely on it
  • Only 21 teacher survey responses and a 25% family response rate mean the climate numbers carry real statistical uncertainty

Based on 2024-25 data

School SummaryDistrict 28

District 28 is generally a high-performing district, with standout elementary schools like P.S. 196 (97/100) and P.S. 101 (90/100) leading the way. Queens Gateway operates in that same top tier at the secondary level, with an overall score of 3.3 out of 4 versus the district's 2.51 average — comfortably above peers on both ELA and math.

Academics

Improving

Queens Gateway's 89.5% ELA proficiency is about 27 percentage points above the district average — that's not a small gap, it's a different league. Math proficiency at 75.3% also runs well above the district's 62.8%, though the trajectory tells a more complicated story: math scores were higher pre-pandemic (around 86% in 2019), dipped during the 2022-23 disruption, and have been recovering since. The 2025 ELA score is actually the highest in the school's eight-year history. One pattern worth flagging: grade 8 math proficiency is 47.5%, dramatically lower than grades 6 and 7 — the year students typically encounter Regents-level material is when scores drop.

Culture

strong

Day-to-day at Queens Gateway reads as orderly and well-managed: zero suspensions is striking, and a 96% attendance rate sits well above the district's 91.4%. Parent satisfaction (91%) and parent-teacher trust (92%) suggest families feel heard. Teachers rate their own instructional quality at a perfect 100%, but only 55% report trusting school leadership — a meaningful gap worth asking about at a school tour. Caveat: only 21 teachers and 166 families responded to the surveys, so these numbers carry real uncertainty.

Community

Half the students here are Asian, a quarter are Black, and the remaining quarter splits among Hispanic, Native American, white, and multiracial students — a meaningfully different mix than the surrounding neighborhood census would predict. The school's economic need index of 56.3 sits in the moderate range, and 15% of students have IEPs. With 694 students across grades 6-12 and an average class size of 24.5, the school is large enough to offer real academic breadth but small enough to keep a secondary-school feel.

Neighborhood

Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest

Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest is a residential pocket east of Flushing where about 46% of homes are owner-occupied and the median home value is roughly $764,000 — solidly middle-class Queens. Median household income is about $77,000 with a 15% poverty rate, and roughly a third of adult residents hold a bachelor's degree. About 21% of households include children under 18, so this is genuinely a family neighborhood, not just a place families pass through.

There's no nearby subway stop — the closest options are the F train at Parsons Boulevard (about a 15-minute walk), 169 St (about 17 minutes), or Sutphin Blvd (about 19 minutes) — so most families likely drive, take the bus, or arrange carpool.

Academic Performance

ELA Proficiency

89.5%

Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.

NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23

Math Proficiency

75.3%

Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.

NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23

Historical Trends

ELA Math

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

Family Feedback
Satisfaction
91%
Teacher Trust
92%
Principal Trust
87%
Relationships
n/a
Teacher Perspective
Instruction
100%
Principal Trust
55%
Collegial Trust
68%
Safety
n/a

NYC School Survey (2025) · 166 families responded (25% rate)

Programs & Activities

Academic(2)
AP CoursesAccelerated/Honors
Sports(7)
BasketballCross CountryIndoor TrackOutdoor TrackRugbySoccerVolleyball
Language(2)
ELL SupportSpanish

Admissions Demand

Queens Gateway to Health SciencesHighly Competitive

Provides ongoing exposure to health science careers. All students are required to take four years of mathematics and science.

Seats92
Applicants1,615
Apps/Seat17.6
Offer Rate5.6%
Fill Raten/a

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Diverse
11%Hispanic/Latino
25%Black
4%White
50%Asian
6%Native American

NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23

PTA Fundraising

2024-25
$5,894
total raised
$8
per student

Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure

Discipline

0suspensions

NYSED Student & Educator Database

Economic Need & Special Populations

Economic Need Index
56.3%
IEP Students
15.4%

How to get in, step by step

Middle school (6th grade)

Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:

  • Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary SchoolScreened82 seats

Middle school application

Opened
Wed, Oct 14
Closes
Fri, Dec 11
Offers
Wed, Apr 7

The DOE’s published dates.

  1. 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
  2. 2Screened programs rank 4th-grade course grades, so last year's report card is the one that counts.
  3. 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.

High school (9th grade)

High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:

  • Queens Gateway to Health SciencesScreened

High school application

Opened
Tue, Oct 6
Closes
Fri, Dec 4
Offers
Wed, Mar 3

The DOE’s published dates.

  1. 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
  2. 2Screened programs rank the 7th-grade core-course average, so last year's final grades are the ones that count.
  3. 3Rank 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.

Free account

Make this school part of your plan

Everything on this page is yours to read. An account keeps your research in one place.

Save this school to a shortlist, next to the neighborhoods you're weighing
Tell us about your family once — grades, priorities, where you live
Get a read on any neighborhood for your family
Ask Motley Intelligence about this school, with your family in mind
Sign In — It’s Free

No credit card required

Compare head-to-head

Explore nearby

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School a good school?
On Motley, Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School earns an overall rating of 83/100 — 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 28 average. Its high school grades have their own rating, 81/100, from graduation and Regents results.
What grades does Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School serve?
Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School serves grades 6 to 12.
How do students get into Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School?
Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
Is Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School public, charter, or private?
Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School is a public school in NYC Community School District 28.
What neighborhood is Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School in?
Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School is in Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest, Queens.