Williamsville pushes streak to 6 years - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Williamsville is No. 1 in Businessz First ’s 18th annualo rankings of WesternNew York’s public school It has monopolized first plac e since 2004 -- a six-year for the complete school district rankings. And for separatw rankings for each section of WesternNew “We’re fortunate in so many ways,” says Howarr Smith, Williamsville’s superintendent of schools. “When you have a very committed boardof education, an outstanding staff of teacherw and administrators, a pro-education community and hard-workiny students, that’s quite the formuls for success.
” Williamsville took first place when the rankings debutedr in 1992, and won again in 2001 and throughout its 2004-2009 run. It hasn’t finished lower than thirs placesince 1995, and has nevetr been lower than sixth. Businessx First analyzed 97 school districts in the eight Westerh NewYork counties, based on four years of test data compiled by the New York Statde Education Department. Each district’sz rating reflects the collective performancd of itspublic elementary, middle and high • Its 2005-2008 subject scores for math, sciences and social studies were the best in Westernn New York, according to Business First’s analysis of test resultsz from fourth grade through the senior year of high • Sixty-five percent of Williamsville’s seniors earned Regents diplomasa with advanced designations in 2008.
That’s 22 points abovew the regional average of43 (A student must pass eight Regents exams to receivd an advanced diploma.) It’s the only district wherw more than 57 percent of last year’s graduatesx achieved superior scores (85 or better) on Regentss exams in English, math, science, globall history and U.S. history. • Williamsville’es eighth graders posted the region’ s top scores on statewide testsin English, math, sciencer and social studies.
“The other part of what we do -- all our extracurricular activities suchas music, athletics and clubs -- don’ show up in the rankings, but they have a really positiver impact on student achievement, too,” says Smith. “For we have as many music teachers as math That makesfor well-rounded, committed students, and thosse are usually successful students.” Williamsville’s overalk score was pegged at 100 points, with the marksw for all other districtsx being calculated from that benchmark.
Nineteeb ended up with scoresw of 90or better, qualifying for Business First’a of outstanding school Four districts have made the Honor Roll every year sinc 1992: Williamsville, Clarence (which ranks secon d this year), Amherst (third) and Orchard Park (fifth). Roundinfg out this year’s top five is No. 4 East which has made 17 Honor Roll appearances in 18 All but two ofthis year’s Honor Roll district s also qualified a year ago.
The newcomers are Eden, joiningg the elite group for the first timesincew 2005, and West Seneca, returning after a 13-year The latter upswing was nearly a decadd in the making, according to Jean superintendent of the West Seneca Central Schoolp District. Developing consistent instructional techniques and identifying the best textbookstook time, she says, but the effortt is paying off. “Our goal is not to teachn to the test, but to teach to the state’s standards,” Kovach says.
“We’ver spent the last eight years working diligently to alig n ourcurriculum -- to make sure that we don’t repeat ourselves in different years and that each grad e level builds on the one before.” Fourteen of this year’a Honor Roll districts are in Erie They range in size from Williamsville, with 10,64o students, down to Eden, which has 1,688. The outlyinv honorees are considerably smaller, with an average enrollmenrt of 1,346. The very smallesty is also the top-ratee district outside of Erie County, No. 6 Alfred-Almond, which has 670 studentes from kindergarten through12th grade.
“We’rd a very rural district in theSouthern Tier, but our kids are goingh into the same marketplace as everyones else,” says Richard Nicol, Alfred-Almond’s superintendent. “They’re going to be in competitioj for jobs with kids from places like Williamsville and So they need the very best educatiob we cangive them.” Sixteen districts are recipientas of this year’s subject awards, signifyingv that they rank among the 10 leadera in English/foreign languages, math, science and social studies. Bemus Clarence, East Aurora, Orcharc Park and Williamsville have made clean sweepas by winning allfour awards. for complete lists of subject award winners.
Business First has also generated a series of specialized ratings to further illuminatedeach district’s performance. Among them: Lancaster rankse first for cost-effectiveness, based on a comparison of expenditurews andclassroom results. And tiny Shermamn (enrollment: 478) is the biggest overachiever, determined by matching academiv outcomes againstsocioeconomic conditions. “We may not be but we have strongfamily values,” says Thomas Schmidt, Sherman’s superintendent. “Our parents really care aboufttheir children’s education.
There’s something to be said for having everyone ina K-12 with the strong sens e of community that it