J.H.S. 202 Robert H. Goddard

Robert H. Goddard JHS 202 is a large zoned middle school on a residential street next to playgrounds and a park in Ozone Park. It has a large arts program, which provides instrumental and choral music, visual arts and drama. The school has high expectations, effective leadership and teachers who work together as a team, according to the Department of Education evaluation known as the Quality Review.

Students in all grades participate in music classes and thanks to recent grants, students may learn to play a wide range of brand new instruments. Students have showcased their talent at Queens College, as well as Carnegie Hall as participants of an honors band program. Visual Arts students have won the Queens Borough Arts Festival and had the winning pieces displayed at the Queens Museum, according to the school’s Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP).

The school offers high school lever courses in algebra and earth science for 8th-graders. A majority of students at this school earn high school credit. While strong students often pass the algebra Regents exam, the school is working to improve achievement in math for lower-performing students, according to the CEP.

The school has a guidance counselor and dean assigned to each grade. There are weekly advisory periods where presentations are tailored to the emotional needs of students and address community issues. Students support each other through competitive sports with other schools. The school has a partnership with The Peninsula League for basketball and volleyball, but offers softball and soccer as well.  

The school offers a range of extracurricular activities for students outside of the arts and athletics like garden club, strategic games, coding, debate and yoga. The debate club students have placed in the top ten in competitions citywide.

The school shares a building with Robert H. Goddard High School of Communication Arts and Technology. Most students at JHS 202 move on to the high school.

Admission: Zoned school. (Melanie Quiroz, web reports and DOE data, April 2019)