J.H.S. 259 William McKinley: SHSAT testers and specialized high school offers, 2022-2026
District 20 · Brooklyn · DBN 20K259
- 8th graders, 2026
- 645
- Sat the SHSAT
- 416
- Took the test
- 64%
- Offers
- 89
SHSAT 2026: registration October 6–30; the test is November 14–15 (School Day November 18, 9th grade November 21).
For families choosing a middle school
Getting in (Fall 2026 admissions)
In Fall 2026 middle school admissions, J.H.S. 259 William McKinley admitted sixth graders through 4 programs (Screened, Language Criteria, Zone Priority).
Its most requested program, Algebra Honors Program, had 573 general education applicants for 50 seats, 11 applicants per seat in the DOE's count; no program in the city had a higher figure.
| Program | Admissions method | General education seats | Students with disabilities | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Applicants | Per seat | All filled | Seats | Applicants | Per seat | ||
| Superintendent's ProgramOpen to New York City residents | Screened | 50 | 560 | 11 | Yes | 10 | 37 | 4 |
| Mandarin Dual Language ProgramOpen to New York City residents | Language Criteria | 25 | 212 | 8 | Yes | 5 | 14 | 3 |
| Algebra Honors ProgramOpen to New York City residents | Screened | 50 | 573 | 11 | Yes | 10 | 36 | 4 |
| Zoned ProgramOpen to New York City residents | Zone Priority | 332 | 444 | 1 | No | 68 | 76 | 1 |
Where its students go next. The DOE lists Fort Hamilton High School, Brooklyn Technical High School and High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology as the high schools its students most often attend.
Fall 2026 admissions: families applied in fall 2025 for sixth grade in September 2026. Seats, applicants and applicants per seat are the DOE’s, from its Fall 2026 Middle School Data file on InfoHub (saved by the DOE 2026-09-18), the same figures MySchools shows as last year’s demand. The DOE counts applicants this way: “MySchools shows the true number of applicants who were considered for a seat in a program, meaning this number excludes applicants who matched to a more preferred choice from their application.” (schools.nyc.gov, read October 4, 2026). Applicants per seat is the DOE’s own figure, rounded to a whole number, so 0 means fewer than one applicant for every two seats. “All filled” is the DOE’s flag for whether every seat in that group was filled; “n/a” means the file gives no figure. Seats and demand change every year; this page does not turn them into a chance of admission.
In 2026 admissions, 416 of the 645 eighth graders at J.H.S. 259 William McKinley who applied to high school sat the SHSAT: 64%, more than half the grade. Across District 20 the rate was 55%, so this school sits 10 points above it. Citywide, among public middle schools that published both counts, 39% of eighth graders sat the test. It ranks 5th of 16 in District 20 on that measure. With 645 eighth graders applying to high school, it has the largest eighth grade of the 16 schools listed in District 20.
89 students from the school received an offer to one of the eight testing specialized high schools, 21% of its testers. Across the city, 4,023 offers went to 26,123 testers that year, 15.4%. That is the 5th highest count in the city, inside the group of 20 middle schools that together received 1,602 of the 4,023 offers.
The number of testers went from 325 in 2022 admissions to 416 in 2026, up 91. The sharpest move came between 2024 and 2025, when it rose by 80. Offers went from 80 in 2022 to 89 in 2026.
In District 20, the most offers in 2026 admissions went to students from The Christa McAuliffe School/I.S. 187 (165), out of 455 published for the district as a whole.
Discovery, the DOE’s summer program that offers a specialized high school seat to disadvantaged students who complete it, counted 37 of its students in 2022, 31 in 2023, 29 in 2024, 29 in 2025 and 47 in 2026.
Year by year
| Admissions year | 8th graders | Sat the SHSAT | Took the test | Offers | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 555 | 325 | 59% | 80 | 37 |
| 2023 | 505 | 301 | 60% | 72 | 31 |
| 2024 | 520 | 288 | 55% | 77 | 29 |
| 2025 | 636 | 368 | 58% | 82 | 29 |
| 2026 | 645 | 416 | 64% | 89 | 47 |
| District 20, 2026 | 3,950 | 2,165 | 55% | at least 455 | |
| New York City, 2026 | 26,123 | 4,023 |
“2026 admissions” means students who sat the SHSAT as eighth graders in the 2025-26 school year and received offers for fall 2026, as in the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary. “8th graders” counts the school’s eighth graders who applied to high school; “took the test” divides testers by that count when both are published. The district row adds the published counts of its schools, so its offers are a floor; the city row is the DOE’s own total. “Not listed” means the school is absent from that year’s file.
Schools in District 20 with a similar share of testers
The schools just above and below J.H.S. 259 William McKinley when District 20’s schools are ordered by the share of eighth graders who sat the SHSAT in 2026 admissions.
- Brooklyn School of Inquiry82% of 57 sat the test · 17 offers
- J.H.S. 201 The Madeleine Brennan School72% of 573 sat the test · 98 offers
- The Seeall Academy69% of 151 sat the test · 7 offers
- P.S. 163 Bath Beach64% of 74 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- P.S. 229 Dyker58% of 123 sat the test · 8 offers
- P.S. 192 - The Magnet School for Math and Science Inquiry48% of 64 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
See how this school ranks
In 2026 admissions, J.H.S. 259 William McKinley received 89 specialized high school offers for 416 students who sat the SHSAT: 21.4 per 100. That ranks it #12 of 29 in Brooklyn and #51 of 105 citywide, among schools with at least 30 test-takers.
Best middle schools in Brooklyn for the SHSAT
Compare with…
What to do with these numbers
Your child is in 8th grade now
Registration closes October 30. Test day: November 18.
November 18 is the SHSAT School Day; the weekend sittings are November 14/15 and November 21. Whatever the count at J.H.S. 259 William McKinley, the decision to sit the test is yours, and a scored official practice test tells you more about your own child than any school figure.
- How to register for the SHSAT, step by step
- Score an official SHSAT practice test, free
- Book an SHSAT session
Dates read on schools.nyc.gov on October 19, 2026.
Your child is in 6th or 7th grade
A 7th grader sits the SHSAT in fall 2027; a 6th grader, in fall 2028.
The test comes in the fall of 8th grade, so there is no deadline yet, and that is the point: starting now leaves time to work on reading and math at a steady pace instead of in the last weeks. The counts above show what happened at J.H.S. 259 William McKinley, not where your child stands. We start with a scored official practice test, which does.
Your child is in 5th grade
Middle school applications are open until December 11.
Start with how many families applied for each seat last year: the DOE publishes it program by program. The middle school you choose is also where the SHSAT years happen, so ask the schools on your list how many of their students sit the test and how they prepare them.
- How hard J.H.S. 259 William McKinley is to get into
- SHSAT preparation: what it involves and when to start
Dates for fall 2027 entry read on schools.nyc.gov on October 3, 2026.
J.H.S. 259 William McKinley is a school figure. Your child needs a score.
Figures from Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests Results (school counts) and Specialized High Schools Admissions Overall Summary (city totals), New York City Department of Education, as listed for DBN 20K259; 2026 figures from the DOE’s Fall 2026 SHSAT and Discovery Summary on InfoHub, not yet on NYC Open Data. Rebuilt 2026-10-04. Method and caveats are set out on the index page. Back to all 735 middle schools.