1
What advice would you give to incoming students at PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,088
Elementary
DISTRICT 651 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #25·NCES 360012202314
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS
147-27 15TH DR, WHITESTONE, NY 11357 · (718) 746-0396 · Queens County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,088 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 96% of New York public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded New York public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
15.4:1
71 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
728 students
DISTRICT 74% · STATE 58%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 52 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 172 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 153 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 155 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 179 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 187 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 188 | 17% |
| Ungraded | 2 | 0% |
This year's kindergarten class (172) is 9% smaller than its 5th grade class (188).
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · STATE 72% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
NYS Assessments 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3 + Level 4)English Language Arts
86.0%
NY avg 58.3% . +7.0pp since 2023
Math
95.0%
NY avg 57.4% . +7.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the NYS Assessments, New York's statewide test, about 86 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 95 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all New York schools, those numbers are about 58 and 57. Reading and writing scores are up about 7 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 7 points.
NYS Assessments results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 86.0% | 95.0% |
| 2023-24 | 79.0% | 88.0% |
% Proficient (Level 3 + Level 4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: NYS Assessments. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of NY schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
83.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.4%
based on NY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+33.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 84% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 50% typical for New York schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 33 points, placing it in New York's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS's state test result (83.5% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS this school | 1,088 | 66.9% | 83.5% |
| PS 173 FRESH MEADOWS FLUSHING | 950 | 71.7% | 71.9% |
| PS 32 STATE STREET FLUSHING | 815 | 65.4% | 67.9% |
| PS 204 VINCE LOMBARDI BROOKLYN | 994 | 78.3% | 64.4% |
| PS 229 DYKER BROOKLYN | 1,115 | 79.2% | 74.1% |
| PS 101 VERRAZANO (THE) BROOKLYN | 1,113 | 77.7% | 73.6% |
Matched among New York elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In New York | In Queens County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 83.5% | #123 of 2,335 | #18 of 220 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 95.0% | #65 of 2,342 ▲ 72 | #11 of 219 ▲ 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 86.0% | #133 of 2,343 ▼ 12 | #18 of 220 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,088 | #25 of 2,585 | #12 of 230 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.4:1 | #2,083 of 2,338 | #189 of 218 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 55.7% | #967 of 2,388 | #130 of 225 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 66.9% | #1,033 of 2,534 | #170 of 230 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.0% | #1,536 of 1,757 | #161 of 167 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,088
+15 (+1%) vs 2020
+29% since 2010-11, when it was 844
Student : Teacher
15.4:1
was 17.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,088 | 70.8 | 15.4:1 | 67% (728) |
| 2023-24 | 1,057 | 64.9 | 16.3:1 | 64% (675) |
| 2022-23 | 1,057 | 64.8 | 16.3:1 | 61% (642) |
| 2020-21 | 1,073 | 62 | 17.3:1 | 53% (566) |
| 2017-18 | 1,133 | 60 | 18.9:1 | 53% (602) |
| 2015-16 | 1,061 | 59 | 18.0:1 | 52% (549) |
| 2010-11 | 844 | 51 | 16.6:1 | 47% (394) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS.
About PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS
Students in WHITESTONE, New York, attend PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS, a large elementary school. The school runs pre-K through 5 and enrolls 1,088 students. That compares with an average of about 443 students for elementary schools in New York.
NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #25 runs PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS along with 45 other schools, enrolling 33,704 students in total.
The largest group at PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS is Asian students, at 61%. Enrollment also includes 22% Hispanic and 14% White. Among people living in Queens County, the Asian share is about 26%. The diversity index for PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS is 56%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS has 70.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 15.4:1. By comparison, the average for elementary schools in New York is 12.8:1. A common income measure, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, is 67% at PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS. That is lower than the 77% average for public schools in Queens County.
Among New York public elementary schools, PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS outscored 96%, which works out to an A+ on the allk12 Grade.
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS is 33.1 points above expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the top 10% in New York.
The school's county is Queens County. According to Census Bureau estimates, median household income comes to about $86,136, about 36% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 10%. Queens County's 392 public schools enroll about 268,205 students and include PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS.
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS is about 0.6 miles from PS 193 ALFRED J KENNEDY, its nearest public school. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Its average proficiency rate of 83.5% is above the 66.7% average for nearby schools.
Federal records code the school's setting as City: Large.
Enrollment at PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS was 1,073 in 2020-21 and 1,088 in 2024-25, a change of less than 3%. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 17.3:1 to 15.4:1.
The allk12 page for PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS lets the school community talk about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. You can also rate the school on this page.
Queens County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
2,323,052
Census ACS
Median income
$86,136
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
36%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
392
268,205 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #25
- JOHN BOWNE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,778 students
- FLUSHING HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,650 students
- JHS 185 EDWARD BLEEKERMiddle · 1,516 students
- TOWNSEND HARRIS HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 1,342 students
- IS 237Middle · 1,313 students
- PS 24 ANDREW JACKSONElementary · 1,197 students
Other schools in WHITESTONE
- JHS 194 WILLIAM CARRMiddle · 986 students
- PS 193 ALFRED J KENNEDYElementary · 559 students
- PS 184 FLUSHING MANORElementary · 462 students
- PS 209 CLEARVIEW GARDENSElementary · 445 students
Nearby schools
- PS 193 ALFRED J KENNEDY0.6 mi · 559
- JHS 194 WILLIAM CARR0.6 mi · 986
- JHS 185 EDWARD BLEEKER0.8 mi · 1,516
- PS 21 EDWARD HART0.8 mi · 1,086
- PS 184 FLUSHING MANOR1.1 mi · 462
- PS 129 PATRICIA LARKIN1.2 mi · 1,071
Frequently asked questions
About PS 79 FRANCIS LEWISHow many students attend PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS?
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS enrolls approximately 1,088 students in grades PK-05.
Is PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS an elementary, middle, or high school?
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS have?
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS employs 71 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.4:1.
What is the student diversity at PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS?
Student demographics at PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS are roughly 14% White, 22% Hispanic, 2% Black, 61% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS?
PS 79 FRANCIS LEWIS is overseen by NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT #25 in Queens County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.