Transit regains lead among middle schools - Business First of Buffalo:

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Williamsville’s Transit Middle School finished firsyin 2006. Buffalo’s City Honors School pushedf into the top spotin 2007. And Williamsville’zs Casey Middle School rotated to the fronyin 2008. Which bringsz us full circle. Transit has regained firstt placethis year, marking its fourtjh appearance at the head of the list sincwe Business First began rating middle schoolse in 2002. for the complete middle schoolo rankings. And for separate rankings for each section of WesternjNew York.
“We’re very proued of our record,” says Jill Pellis, Transit’s “It comes from a combination ofthings -- children who are preparerd and ready to families who support education at home, and an outstandingy staff of teachers who take their jobs very Last year’s champion, Casey, is this year’s The two Williamsville schools, whic are just three miles apart, annuallg contend for first place in the middler school rankings. “But there’s no competition betweejn us, not at all,” says Pellis. “My colleagues at Casety are wonderful. We all want our kids to do and we were thrilled for themlast year.
” Rankecd third through fifth, are Christ the King School of Amherst, City Honorzs and Amherst Middle School. Business First assessed 211 middled schools across WesternNew York, combing through four yearsx of statewide test results for eighth graders. All test scores were provided by the New York StateEducationn Department. Middle schools typically run from sixth througheighthu grade, though some begin in fifth Many private schools and a few publidc schools have an even broade r span, educating everyone from kindergartnersw to eighth graders. They consequentlh receive two rankings from Busines sFirst -- one as a middlre school, another as an elementary school.
• It was one of four Western New York schools where more than half of all eighthy graders achieved superiorscores (Level 4) on the statewide math test in 2008. It was among four schools where more than 20 percengt of eighth graders hit the superior level on the statewideEnglish test. • It was one of just two schoolss to belong to bothgroups (The other was Kadima h School of Buffalo.) Five of the top six middlwe schools are public institutions, with Christ the King the sole A second Catholic school, St. Gregory the has edged up to seventh place from ninth ayear ago. St. Gregory is unusually large for aprivater school, with 650 students from preschool through middler school.
Principal Patricia Freund says theWilliamsville school’ size has helped it rise in the rankings. “It absolutelyt is an advantage,” she says. “Ig allows us to have more programmingv available, more to choose For example, we have three classes at everhy grade, and we have a complete special-educatiohn team, too.” The 11 leaders in the middld school standings are all fromErie County. The top-ratee outsider is No.
12 Stella Niagara Education Park, whicuh is located within the Lewiston-Portedr district in Niagara but draws from a radius that isconsiderably “We actually have a prettuy broad geographic base,” says Kristen deGuehery, the school’sa director of institutional advancement. “Wde have students from Lockport, Kenmore, Grands Island, even five families who come over from They went out and got theirNexus cards, and they make the drivde every day.” Thirty-four middle school have qualified for subject awards, putting them among the 10 percent of Western New York middle schools that rank the highest in Englis or math.