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Queens Collegiate: A College Board School

Grades: 6-12
Noteworthy

Our Insights

What’s Special

Big school perks with small school warmth and attention

The Downside

Metal detectors

Housed in the majestic Jamaica High School Campus, Queens Collegiate offers lively classes, lots of art and music, and a principal who seems to know every student by name. The school, which serves children in grades 6 to 12, does a particularly good job boosting the achievement of kids who arrive in 6th grade with weak academic skills.

The school welcomes anyone who wants to be here, including kids who arrive mid-year, English Language Learners, and those who receive special education services. While test scores are only average, middle school children show excellent growth compared to where they started, according to the School Quality Snapshot. Children in a special reading program made one-years progress in just four months, said founding Principal Jaime Dubei.

Students may speak Spanish, Bengali, Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi or Haitian Creole at home, and the school does a good job helping them perfect their English, both during their regular classes and in an afterschool program in English as a Second Language. Many classes have two teachers, one of whom is certified in special education.

Kids seem happy, engaged and respectful. The school has a gentle tone; there is a quiet hum of activity and no adults raised their voices during our visit.

In one class, we saw kids sing, play the piano, and strum a guitarperforming a rock song they wrote themselves. In an advisory group of 12 children, a teacher read aloud the Langston Hughes story Thank You Maam, then encouraged discussion of the feelings it evoked. In a 6th grade math class, kids pondered whether to calculate the median or the mean to find the typical salary of a player for the New York Knicks. In a global history class, children walked around stations in the room, each with a poster explaining how technological innovations such as navigational tools, the printing press and gunpowder helped pave the way for the Age of Exploration.

The school offers a challenging college prep curriculum. Eighth graders take Living Environment and many receive high school credit. Most students take 4 years of high school math and 4 years of science. The school offers a range of Advanced Placement classes. AP Psychology is almost an institution here, says Dubei.

The small schools that share the Jamaica campus have campus-wide sport teams, including some unusual ones like football, co-ed Double Dutch and cricket (popular with students from Indian and Bangladesh). Other campus-wide activities include a movie-night, dances and a student-produced musical. Dubei says Queens Collegiate offers big school perks with the warmth of a small school. Another perk: students may go outside after lunch, and on our visit we saw kids playing an improvised game of touch football on the lush lawn. A downside: Students must pass through metal detectors to enter the building.

The school was founded with the help of the College Board, the organization that administers the SAT. Although the school is no longer affiliated with the College Board, the name has not changed. Most graduates go on to CUNY and SUNY campuses; Dubei says counselors encourage children to go away to college, although many immigrant parents prefer to keep their children close to home.

SPECIAL EDUCATION: The school offers flexible programming for children with special needs. For example, a student may be assigned to a self-contained class for some subjects and a team-teaching class for others.

(Clara Hemphill, May 2017)

School Stats

Academics

School
Citywide
How many students graduate in 4 years?
 
91%
How many students with disabilities graduate in 4 years?
 
85%
How many English language learners graduate in 4 years?
 
77%
Average daily attendance
 
85%
How many students miss 18 or more days of school?
 
39%
From the 2020-21 School Quality Guide and 2020-21 NYC School Survey

Students

638
Number of students
611 Citywide Average

Race/Ethnicity


School
Citywide
Low-income students
 
84%
Students with disabilities
 
15%
Multilingual learners
 
9%
From the 2020-21 Demographic Snapshot

Safety & Vibe

School
Citywide
How many students were suspended?
 
1%
How many students say they feel safe in the hallways, bathrooms and locker rooms?
 
89%
How many students think bullying happens most or all of the time at this school?
 
26%
How many students say that some are bullied at their school because of their gender or sexual orientation?
 
16%
From the 2020-21 NYC School Survey and 2019-20 NY State Report Card

Faculty & Staff

School
Citywide
How many teachers say the principal is an effective manager?
 
90%
12.1
Years of principal experience at this school
8 Citywide Average
210
Number of students for each guidance counselor or social worker
226 Citywide Average
How many teachers have 3 or more years of experience teaching?
 
87%
Are teachers effective?
From the 2020-21 NYC School Survey, 2020-21 School Quality Guide, 2019-20 NY State Report Card, 2021 Guidance Counselor Report and this school's most recent Quality Review Report

Advanced Courses

Which students have access to advanced courses at this school? Learn more

Calculus

 
5%

Computer Science

 
5%

Physics

 
26%

Advanced Foreign Language

 
9%

AP/IB Arts, English, History or Social Science

 
27%

AP/IB Math or Science

 
19%

Music

 
69%
From unpublished, anonymized data from the 2019-20 school year provided by the New York State Education Department, brought to you by

College Readiness

School
Citywide
How many students graduate with test scores high enough to enroll at CUNY without remedial help?
 
55%
How many students take a college-level course or earn a professional certificate?
 
81%
From the 2020-21 School Quality Guide
How many students filled out a FAFSA form by the end of their senior year?
 
100%
From the 2020-21 FAFSA data released by Federal Student Aid, brought you by
How many graduates of this school received Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) funding to attend a NYS college?
 
51%
How many of those TAP recipients made it through college? Learn more
From unpublished, anonymized student-level data for the class of 2014 provided by the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) in coordination with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), brought to you by
For more information about our data sources, see About Our Data · More DOE statistics for this school

Programs & Admissions

From the 2021 High School Directory

Queens Collegiate

Admissions Method: Ed. Opt.

Program Description:

Students are offered a well-rounded education that includes arts (theater, music, or visual art) each year throughout high school. We also offer numerous AP courses and academic intervention to ensure each child's needs are met.

Offerings

From the 2021 High School Directory

Language Courses

Spanish

Advanced Placement (AP) courses

AP Chemistry, AP World History: Modern, AP Computer Science Principles, AP United States History, AP Psychology, AP English Language and Composition, AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Computer Science A

Boys PSAL teams

Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Fencing, Football, Lacrosse, Outdoor Track, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling

Girls PSAL teams

Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Flag Football, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Volleyball

Coed PSAL teams

Cricket, Double Dutch, Golf, Stunt

Read about admissions, academics, and more at this school on NYCDOE’s MySchools

NYC Department of Education: MySchools

Contact & Location

Location

167-01 Gothic Drive
Jamaica NY 11432

Trains: F Line to 169th St

Buses: Q1, Q17, Q2, Q25, Q3, Q30, Q31, Q34, Q36, Q43, Q65, Q76, Q77, X68


Contact

Principal: James Harrell

Parent Coordinator: Roger Erskine

Website

Other Details

Shared campus? Yes

This school shares the Jamaica Educational Campus with three other schools

Uniforms required? No
Metal detectors? Yes

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