The Island School is part of the city’s Community Schools program, a longstanding initiative taken up by the Education Department to integrate more support for students and families, like counseling and health clinics, into schools with needy populations. The de Blasio administration has pumped $103 million into its Community Schools program this year at 130 schools.

But while P.S. 188 only recently joined the Community Schools program, it has been offering the same kinds of services for more than 15 years.

About 20 years ago, there was a break-in at the school during spring recess, Barbara Slatin, the principal at the time, said. It turned out that those who had forced their way inside were students. Ms. Slatin decided that the school should have been open, she said, so she began expanding its hours and tacking on services for families.

Today, the building is open on Saturdays, during the summer and every weekday until 6 p.m. It has five social workers, English classes for parents and a washer and dryer that families will be able to use for free. Lawyers come in once a month to help with issues like immigration. And during the winter holiday season, every child gets a present.

Defining Success

At a school like P.S. 188, what does success look like?

On the standardized state tests taken every year, its scores are flatly disappointing. Only 9 percent of its students met state standards in English last year, compared with 30 percent of students citywide. Just 14 percent of children scored at grade level in math, less than half of the citywide rate of 35 percent.

But over the past three years, nearly 50 of its students have been accepted at some of the city’s most competitive high schools, including Brooklyn Technical, Stuyvesant and Millennium, Ms. Ramos said. Of the three high schools that students from the Island School attended the most last year, two have above-average graduation rates, while the other caters to children who are still learning English.

On annual school surveys, families and teachers give the school and its principal very high ratings. Teachers say they trust the principal and one another. Students say they feel safe and respected, and that they know what their teachers want them to learn. At the Island School, there are outbursts and fights, but the hallways usually feel calm. Children walk from class to class in neat rows, or a rough approximation of them.