PS 52

As a small elementary campus in JAMAICA, New York, PS 52 works with 270 students from grades pre-K through 5, run under NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #29. Compared to the state average of about 443 students per school, that is 39% leaner than typical.

Across the 46 schools in NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #29 (21,817 students total), PS 52 accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, PS 52 lists that the most-represented group is Black (50%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school shows 37% Hispanic, 4% White, 4% Asian, 3% Native American. The wider county runs roughly 17% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

On the resource side, On paper, PS 52 has 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 9.1:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 12.8:1 average. Roughly 94% of students at PS 52 qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Queens County runs at roughly 77%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), PS 52 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 40.4%, the actual is 28.3%, a residual of -12.1 points.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Queens County put median household income runs about $86,136, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. PS 52 is one of 392 public schools in Queens County (combined enrollment of about 268,205 students).

COMMUNITY VOICES MIDDLE SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around PS 52. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), PS 52 ranks 9th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 51.6%.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 44%: 481 students in 2018 compared to 270 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 78% to 50% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 14.1:1 in 2018 to 9.1:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.