By WBFO Newsroom
Buffalo, NY – An all girls Catholic high school in Buffalo is ranked number one in Business First's annual academy ratings of Western New York High Schools. Nardin Academy tops the list for the 10th consecutive year.
Nardin ranked No. 1 among the region's private schools each year from 2002 to 2006. Business First combined the public- and private-school standings in 2007, and Nardin has led that list ever since.
"It's hard work by the faculty and the students, a real willingness to work hard," says Rebecca Reeder, principal of the all-girls school in Buffalo. "It's the faculty giving students a little extra push when they need it and the students responding with extra effort."
Nardin earned first place by dominating several statistical categories:
-- Ninety-six percent of its 2010 graduates earned Regents diplomas with advanced designations, which are awarded to students who pass eight Regents exams. No other Western New York high school did better than 87 percent.
"We set 100 percent as a goal every year, and we continue to work toward it," says Reeder. "We've never quite gotten there, but we're close."
-- Nardin posted the region's best results in three subjects, English/foreign languages, science and social studies, based on Business First's assessment of 2007-2010 test data.
-- At least 60 percent of the Nardin students taking Regents exams in English, geometry, global history, U.S. history and biology achieved superior scores last year. No other high school across Western New York can say the same.
City Honors, which ranks third in the overall standings, is the top-rated public high school. It's a familiar position. City Honors was No. 1 among public schools from 1997 through 2007, then yielded that distinction the past three years to Williamsville East.
Its rebound this year was driven by high scores in math and social studies. City Honors ranks first regionally in the former subject and second to Nardin in the latter.
"We clearly get talented students from around the city, but they don't all fit the common stereotype," says William Kresse, the principal at City Honors. "About a third of our students are below the poverty line and another third are what I would call modest middle class. This place can be a real launching pad for them."
The nine high schools atop this year's standings are all in Erie County. No. 10 Notre Dame High School of Batavia is the top performer in the other seven counties, followed by No. 13 Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School of Bemus Point.
"It's all about people," says Edward Turkasz, Maple Grove's principal. "We have support systems in place to help everybody succeed. Our teachers are really dedicated people, and they've bought into it. Our kids have bought into it. And our parents support their kids and their schools."
Thirty high schools are winners of subject awards, putting them among the top 10 percent in the fields of English/foreign languages, math, science or social studies.
City Honors and Nardin are the only high schools to sweep four subject awards, while Sacred Heart, Williamsville East and Williamsville North have three each.
You can read the entire listing of top high schools by going on-line to Business First High School Rankings