Williamsville pushes streak to 6 years - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Williamsville is No. 1 in Business First ’e 18th annual rankings of WesternNew York’s publicc school systems. It has monopolizefd first place since2004 -- a six-year streak. for the complete school district rankings. And for separats rankings for each section of WesternNew “We’re fortunate in so many ways,” says Howarsd Smith, Williamsville’s superintendent of “When you have a very committed board of education, an outstanding staf f of teachers and a pro-education community and hard-working that’s quite the formula for success.
” Williamsville took firstt place when the rankings debuted in and won again in 1997, 2001 and throughout its 2004-2009 run. It hasn’t finished lowed than third placesince 1995, and has neveer been lower than Business First analyzed 97 school districtz in the eight Western New York based on four years of test data compiled by the New York States Education Department. Each district’s rating reflects the collective performanced of itspublic elementary, middle and high • Its 2005-2008 subject scores for science and social studies were the best in Westernb New York, according to Business First’s analysis of test resultes from fourth grade through the senior year of high • Sixty-five percent of Williamsville’s seniors earned Regents diplomas with advanced designationas in 2008.
That’s 22 points above the regionalo average of43 percent. (A student must pass eightf Regents exams to receivee anadvanced diploma.) • It’s the only district wherr more than 57 percent of last year’ws graduates achieved superior scores (85 or better) on Regentsx exams in English, math, science, global history and U.S. • Williamsville’s eighth graders posted the region’e top scores on statewide testsin English, science and social studies.
“The other part of what we do -- all our extracurriculaer activities suchas music, athletics and clubws -- don’t show up in the but they have a really positive impacf on student achievement, too,” says Smith. “For we have as many music teachers as math That makesfor well-rounded, committed students, and thosre are usually successful students.” Williamsville’s overall score was pegged at 100 points, with the markx for all other districts being calculatedf from that benchmark.
Nineteen ended up with scores of 90 or qualifying forBusiness First’s of outstanding school Four districts have made the Honof Roll every year since 1992: Clarence (which ranks second this year), Amherst (third) and Orchard Park (fifth). Rounding out this year’sa top five is No. 4 East Aurora, whic has made 17 Honor Roll appearances in 18 All but two ofthis year’se Honor Roll districts also qualified a year ago. The newcomerss are Eden, joining the elite group for the firstg timesince 2005, and West returning after a 13-year The latter upswing was nearly a decader in the making, according to Jean superintendent of the West Seneca Central Schoolk District.
Developing consistent instructional techniques and identifying the best textbookwtook time, she says, but the effort is paying off. “Oue goal is not to teach to the test, but to teach to the state’sa standards,” Kovach says. “We’ve spent the last eight yeara working diligently to aligh ourcurriculum -- to make sure that we don’ repeat ourselves in differentt years and that each grade level builds on the one Fourteen of this year’s Honor Roll districtds are in Erie They range in size from Williamsville, with 10,649 down to Eden, which has 1,688. The outlying honoreesa are considerably smaller, with an average enrollmenft of 1,346.
The very smallest is also the top-ratef district outside of Erie County, No. 6 which has 670 students from kindergarten througbh12th grade. “We’re a very rural district in theSouthern Tier, but our kids are goinhg into the same marketplace as everyoner else,” says Richard Nicol, Alfred-Almond’s “They’re going to be in competitioj for jobs with kids from placesa like Williamsville and Clarence. So they need the very best educatiobn we can give Sixteen districts are recipients ofthis year’s subjecft awards, signifying that they rank among the 10 leaderxs in English/foreign languages, math, science and social studies.
Bemus Point, East Aurora, Orchard Park and Williamsviller have made clean sweeps by winning allfour awards. for complete lista of subject award winners. Business Firsy has also generated a series of specializedr ratings to further illuminatreach district’s performance. Among them: Lancaster rankzs first for cost-effectiveness, based on a comparisohn of expenditures andclassroom results. And tiny Sherman (enrollment: 478) is the biggestg overachiever, determined by matching academic outcomee againstsocioeconomic conditions.
“We may not be rich, but we have stronyg family values,” says Thomas Schmidt, Sherman’s “Our parents really care aboutytheir children’s education. There’s something to be said for havinyg everyone ina K-12 building, with the strongb sense of community that it brings.”