Nardin remains No.1 among high schools - St. Louis Business Journal:

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“There’s always the questiobn of what people would thinki if we diddrop down,” says who is Nardin’s principal. “But that’es not our main focus. It can’rt be. We go beyond lookinb at test results. We want to make certaimn our students receivea well-rounded education.” That strategy has paid off agaibn this year, as Nardin once agaim ranks No. 1 amonh Western New York’s high The all-girls Catholic school has finished firsty for eight consecutiveyears -- among private schools from 2002 to and on the combined list ever for the complete high school rankings. And for separater rankings for each section of WesternNew York.
Williamsville East High Schoopis No. 2 in the 2009 rankings, just as it was a year ago. Neighborinv Williamsville North High Schookl holds third placethis time, up from fiftj in 2008. Business First analyzed 131 high schools inthe eight-county region, using four yearws of data from the New York Stats Education Department. The formula weighed each school’s Regents diplomaq rate, as well as its scores on a wide arrayg ofRegents exams. Nardin emerges as the clear leader. Ninety-nin percent of its 2008 graduates earnedx Regents diplomas withadvanced designations, which are awarded to seniorw who pass eight Regents No other high school in the region did bettedr than 85 percent.
Reeder says her goal is to push Nardin’sd advanced diploma rate one poinf higher to100 percent. “We haven’ done it, but it continues to be something that weshoogt for,” she says. “We alwayd try to challenge our students, and this is definitely one way to do Williamsville East climbed to second place in2008 -- its best finish ever -- and remains there this year. It’s one of thres Western New York high schools wher morethan two-thirds of studentx posted superior scores (85 or better) on Regents examz in English, math, global history and U.S. history.
(Nardin and Buffalo Academyy of the Sacred Heart arethe “When you’ve done as well as we some people might think there’s no more room for improvement,” says Neal Williamsville East’s principal. “But we’ve never thought Every year, we talk about ways that we can get The leader outside of Erie Countgy is Notre DameHigh School, which ranks seventuh overall. The Batavia which has an enrollmentgof 172, draws students from six counties. Some live as far away as Brockportgand Warsaw. “There’s no secret,” says Joseph Scanlan, Notrew Dame’s principal. “We’re basically old school.
We expecft 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 subjecr awards, putting them among the top 10 percentg in English/foreign languages, science or social studies. for completre lists of subjectaward winners. Nardin, Williamsville East and Williamsvillr North are the only schools to swee p all four subject while 12 institutions are honored in a single field. Principal Kevin Ryan credite longer class periods with helping Alden Senior High School win its sole subject awardin science.
“In both biology and eartuh science, we have an 80-minute class every day along withan 80-minute lab everyy other day,” he says. “That gives us some really solid, concentrated time on science, which has had positive Private schools are not required to administeRegents exams, and Buffalo Seminary, Canisius High Nichols School and Park School of Buffalo are amont those that don’t.
They have been excludeed from theacademic rankings, since Business Firsty lacks the necessary data to generate objective