Best Schools in Bayside, New York

Bayside, Queens runs 16 ranked public schools with an average score of 7.6 out of 10 — a strong floor for a New York City neighborhood. Thirteen of those 16 schools, or 81 percent, clear the 7-out-of-10 mark. That concentration at the upper end means parents here face far fewer low-performing options than in most urban districts. The overall spread runs from solid to excellent, with very little dead weight at the bottom of the range.

Bell Academy leads Bayside's middle school tier at 8.9 out of 10, the top score among all 16 ranked schools and a standout by any measure. MS 158 Marie Curie rounds out the middle school options at 8.4, giving families a strong second choice at that grade band. Both sit well above Bayside's 7.6 average, making the middle school transition — often the riskiest academic jump in a student's K–12 path — considerably less daunting here than in most districts.

On the elementary side, PS 31 Bayside scores 8.8, just a hair below Bell Academy. PS 169 Bay Terrace (8.5) and PS 41 Crocheron (8.4) fill out the tier with genuine depth. Three separate elementary campuses all scoring above 8.4 signals broad-based academic strength — this is not a picture of two outliers pulling up a mediocre average. Parents have real options at the entry level regardless of which elementary zone they land in.

For families comparing Bayside to neighboring Queens communities, the 81 percent above-7 rate is the most actionable benchmark. Zoning assignments carry less risk here than in most districts: whichever school a family is assigned to, the odds strongly favor a solid academic environment. Families targeting the very top of the range should prioritize zoning for PS 31 Bayside or Bell Academy, but even mid-tier schools here outperform many comparable urban neighborhoods.