PS 31 is a high-performing, traditional school where order and discipline are prized. Test scores are among the highest in the city.

While a few parents complain that discipline can be rigid and that too much time is spent preparing children for standardized tests prep, most seem to be enthusiastic. Parents responding to the Learning Environment Survey uniformly agreed that academic standards are high and that the school is safe and welcoming.

Students walk quietly down the hallways, and pre-kindergartners politely push in their chairs when they are asked to gather on the classroom rug. But students also kick up their heels enthusiastically in dance class, where they "shake their buttons" to the merengue, or stomp in line as the music urges, "Everybody dance now!" The school has a strong cadre of teachers, its hallways and classrooms display interesting student projects, and it is exceptionally neat and clean the light-blue hallways literally glisten. Children do not have recess.

The school has an award-winning chess team.

Special education: Self-contained and team-teaching classes are offered.

Admissions: The school accepts all students within its zone boundaries. Because the school's building originally was intended as a temporary space, PS 31's zone is actually about a mile away from the school itself. Zoned students are provided with transportation. The school often has room for children from outside the zone. Call the school for tour dates. (Deborah Apsel, February 2005, updated February 2013)