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

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Williamsville’s Transit Middle School finished firstin 2006. Buffalo’s City Honorsd School pushed into the top spotin 2007. And Williamsville’as Casey Middle School rotated to the fronin 2008. Which brings us full Transit has regained first placethis year, markiny its fourth appearance at the head of the list sincd Business First began rating middls schools in 2002. for the complete middle schoool rankings. And for separate rankings for each sectiob of WesternNew York.
“We’re very proufd of our record,” says Jill Pellis, Transit’s “It comes from a combination ofthingxs -- children who are prepared and readyh to learn, families who supporty education at home, and an outstanding staff of teacherz who take their jobs very seriously.” Last year’sd champion, Casey, is this year’s The two Williamsville schools, whicu are just three miles apart, annuallyu contend for first place in the middle school “But there’s no competition between us, not at all,” says “My colleagues at Casey are We all want our kids to do and we were thrilled for them last Ranked third through fifth, respectively, are Christ the King Schoolo of Amherst, City Honors and Amherst Middle School.
Busines s First assessed 211 middle schools across Western New combing through four years of statewider test results for eighth All test scores were providec by the New York StatseEducation Department. Middle schools typicallyu run from sixth througheightyh grade, though some begin in fifth grade. Many private schoolzs and a few public schools have an evenbroader span, educating everyone from kindergartners to eightyh graders. They consequently receive two ranking s from BusinessFirst -- one as a middler school, another as an elementaryy school.
• It was one of four Wester New York schools where more than half of all eighty graders achieved superiorscoresz (Level 4) on the statewide math test in 2008. • It was amongg four schools where more than 20 percent of eighthu graders hit the superior level on the statewideEnglisyh test. • It was one of just two schools to belong to bothgroupes above. (The other was Kadimahu School of Buffalo.) Five of the top six middle schools are public with Christ the King thesole exception. A seconds Catholic school, St. Gregory the has edged up to seventh placew from ninth ayear ago. St. Gregorgy is unusually large for a private with 650 students from preschool througbmiddle school.
Principal Patricia Freund says theWilliamsvilld school’s size has helped it rise in the “It absolutely is an she says. “It allows us to have more programminyg available, more to choose from. For example, we have thres classes at every grade, and we have a complete special-educatiob team, too.” The 11 leaders in the middle school standings are all fromErie County. The top-rated outsidetr is No. 12 Stella Niagara Education Park, whichb is located within the Lewiston-Porter distric in Niagara County, but draws from a radiuw that isconsiderably larger.
“We actually have a prettyy broadgeographic base,” says Kristen the school’s director of institutional “We have students from Kenmore, Grand Island, even five families who come over from They went out and got their Nexus cards, and they make the drive everyy day.” Thirty-four middle schools have qualified for subject awards, putting them among the 10 percent of Western New York middle schools that rank the highes t in English or math.