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Forest Hills High School

Grades: 9-12
Staff Pick

Our Insights

What’s Special

Selective science program; wide variety of extracurriculars

The Downside

Severe overcrowding

Forest Hills High School is a large, high-achieving yet severely overcrowded neighborhood school. Attendance is great, and most students graduate on time and go on to college. It offers more than 20 Advanced Placement courses, half a dozen foreign languages (including Mandarin, Hebrew, Latin and American Sign Language), and dozens of clubs and sports teams.

Forest Hills offers special programs that include a Law Academy featuring mock trials and moot court, in which students stage trials and argue appeals. The Carl Sagan Program for high achievers provides student with four years of research classes in addition to science and math. Other options include a small Academy of Chinese Studies, a Dual Language Spanish program, and drama and music academies.

Expectations are consistently high. Students must keep up their grades if they want to go to the prom or be on an athletic team. In the majority of the school’s Advanced Placement classes, enrollment is open to all and encouraged, according to the yearly plan, but anyone who signs up for an AP class should count on finishing it.

Forest Hills wants its low-performing students to graduate—whether it takes after-school tutoring, Saturday classes or pestering parents. The graduation rate far outpaces the citywide average, and most graduates are prepared for college work.

None of these achievements, though, mitigate the severe overcrowding. Designed to serve 2,500 students, the building has close to 4,000. Students attend school in three overlapping sessions, with some arriving as early as 7:20 a.m. and the last class ending after 5 p.m. The building stays open until 8 p.m. in an effort to provide extracurricular activities and instill school spirit.

"It's pretty crowded," said one boy arriving in the late morning for the third session on our last visit. By the time he leaves school after 5, eats dinner and does his homework, he complained, the evening is over. Despite the crunch, many students praised the teaching staff.

Overcrowding also means less personal attention: fewer than half the students say teachers notice if they are having trouble learning or support them when they are upset—numbers that fall below the citywide average. However, students say they are engaged in classes, and most teachers would recommend the school to other families.

The college office has two counselors according to the school website.

Benjamin Sherman came to the school as principal in 2017. He was the founder and principal of the well-regarded East-West School of International Studies.

(Lydie Raschka, web reports, March 2018)

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School Stats

Academics

School
Citywide
How many students graduate in 4 years?
 
93%
How many students with disabilities graduate in 4 years?
 
84%
How many English language learners graduate in 4 years?
 
83%
Average daily attendance
 
88%
How many students miss 18 or more days of school?
 
35%
How many parents of students with disabilities say this school offers enough activities and services for their children's needs?
 
87%
How many parents of students with disabilities say this school works to achive the goals of their students' IEPs?
 
87%
From the 2021-22 School Quality Guide and 2020-21 NYC School Survey

Students

3452
Number of students
599 Citywide Average

Race/Ethnicity


School
Citywide
Low-income students
 
70%
Students with disabilities
 
16%
Multilingual learners
 
9%
From the 2022-23 Demographic Snapshot

Safety & Vibe

School
Citywide
How many students were suspended?
 
0%
How many students say they feel safe in the hallways, bathrooms and locker rooms?
 
83%
How many students think bullying happens most or all of the time at this school?
 
35%
How many students say that some are bullied at their school because of their gender or sexual orientation?
 
25%
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?
 
93%
3.3
Years of principal experience at this school
7 Citywide Average
245
Number of students for each guidance counselor or social worker
157 Citywide Average

Teachers’ Race/Ethnicity


How many teachers have 3 or more years of experience teaching?
 
87%
Are teachers effective?
From the 2020-21 NYC School Survey, 2021-22 School Quality Guide, 2019-20 Report on School-Based Staff Demographics, 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

Not offered in 2019-20

Computer Science

 
3%

Physics

 
30%

Advanced Foreign Language

 
10%

AP/IB Arts, English, History or Social Science

 
28%

AP/IB Math or Science

 
25%

Music

 
32%
From unpublished, anonymized data from the 2021-22 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?
 
73%
How many students take a college-level course or earn a professional certificate?
 
71%
From the 2020-21 and 2021-22 School Quality Guide
How many students filled out a FAFSA form by the end of their senior year?
 
70%
From the 2022-23 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?
 
52%
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

Academy of Chinese Studies

Admissions Method: Ed. Opt.

Program Description:

This program is available to students who possess oral fluency in Chinese language. Students will develop high literacy in Mandarin and learn about Chinese culture through a sequence of classes and activities that culminate in an AP class, a special project and the NYS Seal of Bi-literacy. This academy is supported by the Asia Society and the Hanban cultural group to ensure a full experience with Chinese culture.

Dual Language Academy (Spanish)

Admissions Method: Screened: Language

Program Description:

The Dual Language Academy (Spanish) is designed to integrate heritage speakers of Spanish with English proficient students to receive content instruction in English and Spanish. Priority is given to students previously in a dual language Spanish program, students in a traditional bilingual program and Queens residents.

Carl Sagan STEM Honors Academy

Admissions Method: Screened

Program Description:

This academy is a comprehensive science and math program for students who are interested in pursuing careers related to science, technology, engineering, and math. This program begins with a course in STEM fundamentals, which leads to four unique pathways of study: Research, Applied Sciences, Health Professions, and Engineering/Computer Programming. For more information go to our school website www.foresthillshs.org and click on Academics, Science Department.

Law Academy

Admissions Method: Ed. Opt.

Program Description:

This academy offers students the opportunity to study legal writing, civil, criminal, and constitutional law while developing higher order critical thinking and communication skills as they prepare for college and career. Students can participate in internships, jobsite visits, mock trial, and moot court.

Drama Academy

Admissions Method: Audition

Program Description:

One-year multimedia class with opportunity to take a three-year advanced sequence of all aspects of theater.

Academy of Instrumental and Vocal Music

Admissions Method: Audition

Program Description:

This music academy includes beginning, intermediate and advanced instruction on all band, orchestra and percussion instruments as well as voice. Students take three sequential years of music theory that culminates in the NYC Music Comprehensive Exam. Our ensembles include: Beginning Band, Intermediate Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Beginning Orchestra, Intermediate Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra, Beginning and Advanced Percussion, Vocal Training, Women's Choir and Concert Choir.

Zoned

Admissions Method: Zoned Guarantee

Program Description:

Students accepted as a part of the Zoned program will have FHHS as their zoned school. These students will have access to the wide variety of classes, clubs and activities as a member of the FHHS community. Please see our website for a list of sports and clubs. https://www.foresthillshs.org/index.jsp Clubs/ Activities: Girl Up, Animal Rights, Anime, Astronomy, Black Student Assoc., Bukharin Club, Cancer Awareness Society, Cheer leading Club, Chinese Club and LGBTQ Plus Alliance.

Offerings

From the 2021 High School Directory

Language Courses

American Sign Language, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish

Advanced Placement (AP) courses

AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP World History: Modern, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Environmental Science, AP Spanish Language and Culture, AP Psychology, AP Spanish Literature and Culture, AP Art History, AP United States History, AP Calculus AB, AP Macroeconomics, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science A, AP Chinese Language and Culture, AP Calculus BC

Boys PSAL teams

Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Handball, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling

Girls PSAL teams

Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Handball, Indoor Track, Lacrosse, Outdoor Track, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball

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

NYC Department of Education: MySchools

Contact & Location

Location

67-01 110th Street
Forest Hills NY 11375

Trains: N/A

Buses: Q23, Q38, Q60, Q64, QM10, QM11, QM12, QM4, QM40, QM42, QM44


Contact

Principal: Paul Wilbur

Parent Coordinator: Suzanna Khaimova

Website

Other Details

Shared campus? No

This school is in its own building.

Uniforms required? No
Metal detectors? No

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