At a Glance
One of Queens' most selective screened schools, drawing nearly 1,000 applicants for 73 seats — where humanities, language immersion and college prep start in seventh grade
Best suited for
Families with a humanities-minded child who can handle a competitive admissions process and a non-subway commute, and who will lean into the school's college-readiness and language offerings.
Overall Rating
Grades 3–8
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
High school
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
- Extremely selective admissions — 974 applicants competed for 73 seats, a 7.7% offer rate
- Rare early college exposure, with formal college immersion programs running for seventh and eighth graders
- An unusually deep language catalog including Latin, Russian, Korean, Cantonese, French and Spanish
- A 100/100 program richness score — every academic, arts and sports category is filled out, including Tri-M Music Honor Society and a Black Student Union
- A flawless discipline record: zero suspensions reported
Things to consider
- ELA and math proficiency both sit below the district average, despite a highly screened incoming class
- Chronic absenteeism at 79% is a serious flag worth asking the school about directly
- PTA fundraising totals just $2 per student — far below the district's roughly $50 per student — which limits what parents can supplement
- No subway within a 20-minute walk means the commute is bus- or car-dependent from most of the city
- Teacher-principal trust at 81% is the softest climate signal in an otherwise strong survey picture
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 25
Within District 25, a district known for strong screened options, Queens School of Inquiry sits below the district's academic averages and well below standout peers like Queens College School for Math, Science and Technology — though its selectivity and program breadth are competitive with the best of them.
Academics
ELA proficiency of 55.6% lands about nine points below the district average of roughly 65%, and math proficiency at 45.8% trails the district's 69.6% by a wide margin — a notable gap for a school this selective. The longer arc tells a more encouraging story: math proficiency has climbed from 30.2% in 2016 to 45.8% in 2025, with ELA similarly moving up from the low 40s. Eighth-graders consistently outperform sixth and seventh graders (63.1% ELA, 53% math), suggesting students who stay through the program gain real ground.
Culture
Day-to-day feels orderly: zero suspensions is unusual and speaks to a calm environment, and parent trust in teachers (96%) and the principal (97%) is exceptionally high. The catch is chronic absenteeism at 79.1% — meaning roughly four out of five students miss the chronic-absence threshold, even though the overall attendance rate is a respectable 93.3%. Teacher-principal trust lags at 81% while teacher trust in each other holds at 85%, suggesting strong colleague bonds but a more complicated relationship with leadership.
Community
Asian students make up 43% of enrollment, with Hispanic (25%), White (17%) and Black (13%) students rounding out a genuinely mixed population — a diversity index of 74% reflects real variety rather than two dominant groups. The surrounding Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest neighborhood has a median household income just under $77,000 and a 15% poverty rate, and the school's economic need index of 57.2% tracks reasonably close to that picture. Fifteen percent of students have IEPs, slightly above the citywide share, and ELL support is offered for the many students who arrive speaking a language other than English at home.
Neighborhood
Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest is a middle-income, family-dense pocket of eastern Queens — about 21% of households have children, homeownership is just under half, and a third of adults hold a bachelor's degree. The neighborhood reads as quiet, residential and largely car-dependent rather than a commuter hub. Median home values near $764,000 give a sense of the entry-level buy-in for families planting roots here.
The school is beyond walking distance of any subway line, so families should plan for bus travel, car drop-off, or a longer multimodal 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) · 236 families responded (41% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Interdisciplinary program with a strong, comprehensive focus on the humanities.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Middle school (6th grade)
Middle school is one citywide application, made in 5th grade. Queens School of Inquiry, The admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- The Queens School of InquiryUnscreened77 seats
Middle school application
- Opened
- Wed, Oct 14
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 11
- Offers
- Wed, Apr 7
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the middle school application, in 5th grade.
- 2Unscreened programs fill by random lottery among the families who rank them.
- 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 School of Inquiry, The admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Queens School of InquiryScreened
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Screened programs rank the 7th-grade core-course average, so last year's final grades are the ones that count.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
ASD Nest
Queens School of Inquiry, The runs an ASD Nest program (Q77Y), listed in the DOE high school directory.
ASD Nest and ASD Horizon are special education programs inside regular district schools, for some students whose IEP carries an autism classification. Both teach the same New York State standards as every other public school.
ASD Nest runs Integrated Co-Teaching classes: a special education teacher and a general education teacher, with students with and without disabilities, plus a social curriculum developed at NYU.
Program descriptions: NYC Public Schools' Autism Family Resource Guide (last updated January 9, 2025).
A seat starts with your child's IEP team: ask them whether a program fits and how to apply.
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 Queens School of Inquiry, The a good school?
- On Motley, Queens School of Inquiry, The earns an overall rating of 51/100 — 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 25 average. Its high school grades have their own rating, 66/100, from graduation and Regents results.
- What grades does Queens School of Inquiry, The serve?
- Queens School of Inquiry, The serves grades 6 to 12.
- How do students get into Queens School of Inquiry, The?
- Queens School of Inquiry, The 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 School of Inquiry, The public, charter, or private?
- Queens School of Inquiry, The is a public school in NYC Community School District 25.
- What neighborhood is Queens School of Inquiry, The in?
- Queens School of Inquiry, The is in Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest, Queens.