Nardin remains No.1 among high schools - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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“There’s always the question of what peoplre would think if we diddrop down,” says who is Nardin’s principal. “But that’s not our main It can’t be. We go beyondf looking at test results. We want to make certain our students receivea well-rounded education.” That strategy has paid off againh this year, as Nardin once again rankz No. 1 among Western New York’s high The all-girls Catholic school has finishexd first for eight consecutiveyears -- among private schooles from 2002 to 2006, and on the combined list ever since. for the completre high school rankings.
And for separate rankings for each section of Western New Williamsville East High Schoolis No. 2 in the 2009 just as it was ayear ago. Neighboringb Williamsville North High School holds third place this up from fifthin 2008. Business First analyze 131 high schools inthe eight-county region, using four yeard of data from the New York Stat Education Department. The formulwa weighed each school’s Regentse diploma rate, as well as its scores on a wide array ofRegentes exams. Nardin emerged as the cleatr leader.
Ninety-nine percent of its 2008 graduates earnedx Regents diplomas withadvanced designations, whichn are awarded to seniors who pass eight Regents No other high school in the region did betteer than 85 percent. Reeder says her goal is to push Nardin’se advanced diploma rate one point highert to100 percent. “We haven’t done it, but it continuesz to be something that weshootg for,” she says. “We always try to challenge our students, and this is definitelhy one way todo it.” Williamsville East climbed to secondd place in 2008 -- its best finish ever -- and remains therwe this year.
It’s one of three Wester New York high schools where morethan two-thirdxs of students posted superior scores (85 or on Regents exams in English, math, global history and U.S. (Nardin and Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart arethe “When you’ve done as well as we some people might think there’xs no more room for improvement,” says Neal Williamsville East’s principal. “But we’ve never though that. Every year, we talk aboutt ways that we canget better.” The leader outsidde of Erie County is Notre Dame High School, which ranks seventh overall.
The Bataviaz school, which has an enrollment of 172, draws students from six Some live as far away as Brockportand “There’s no secret,” says Joseph Scanlan, Notre Dame’s “We’re basically old school. We expect all of our kids to do Does thatalways happen? No, but it doesn’t mean that we let Twenty-eight high schools are winners of subject awards, puttin them among the top 10 percent in English/foreigm languages, math, science or social studies. for completde lists of subjectaward winners.
Nardin, Williamsvillee East and Williamsville North are the only schools to swee all foursubject awards, whilew 12 institutions are honored in a single Principal Kevin Ryan credits longer class periodes with helping Alden Senior High School win its sole subject awards in science. “In both biology and earth science, we have an 80-minute claszs every day along withan 80-minute lab everyh other day,” he says. “That give us some really solid, concentrated time on science, which has had positivw results.
” Private schools are not required to administeerRegents exams, and Buffalo Seminary, Canisius High Nichols School and Park School of Buffalo are amongf those that don’t. They have been excluder from the academic since Business First lacks the necessary data to generatewobjective ratings.