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St. Paul Lutheran ranked in top 10 for elementary schools in WNY

By Howard B. Owens

A weekly business newspaper in Buffalo published a ranking of WNY elementary schools and one Genesee County school made the top 10.

St. Paul Lutheran School is the 10th best in academic achievement over the past four years, according to Business First.

Mark Potwora

Congrats to St.Paul Luthran ...I see Jackson ranked 228 out of 281...not to good ..

Congrats also go out to Notre Dame has been rated the #1 secondary school in Genesee, Wyoming and Orleans County........Great job..

Jun 13, 2013, 12:23pm Permalink
Robert Brown

Kudos where kudos are due! Now, what are they doing correctly/better and how are they doing it and at what cost? Learn and leverage the success of others in the community! Continuous improvement vs. status quo!

Jun 14, 2013, 8:04am Permalink
Mark Brudz

Robert, Private schools almost always out perform public schools, and parochial schools almost always out perform other private schools.

It is no secret formula, even the teachers and staff of those schools will tell you, It is because there is significantly more parental involvement, and a lot more partnership between parents and teachers. Also there is more emphasis on core subjects.

Even in the public schools that perform over other public schools, you will find the degree of parental involvement exceeds that of schools that rank lower.

Strong Parent Teacher Organizations, are always present in the higher ranking schools. That doesn't mean parents uprising in constant criticism of the school or school system either, more to the point it means more awareness of parents as to what the school is actually doing and how it fits into the overall plan for the development of our youth.

I would be willing to bet that the Batavia School System would die for more parental interest in the actual programs rather than just voicing opinions at budget time.

You will also find if you dig deep enough, that the ratio of current parents of school age children compared to taxpayers with children already graduated or no children is higher in the systems that score better.

The old adage that 'Knowledge is power' goes beyond student knowledge and extends to parental knowledge as well.

That is in addition of course to having a quality staff in the schools. There is a distinct correlation as to the perception of quality staff and the awareness and participation of parents.

Yes Kudos are due to the staff at St. Paul's, and to St. Paul's Church and to the St. Paul's parents all are part of the team there.

Jun 14, 2013, 9:09am Permalink
Mark Brudz

Mark, there are far more than 281 schools in Western New York. The 281 are just the schools that scored high enough to get noticed. While 229 is not outstanding, it is definitely good considering many schools did not even make the list.

Jun 14, 2013, 9:21am Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

I wonder what criteria was used to grade the schools,teacher to student ratios would make a huge difference.
I would take the results with a grain of salt.Statistical data can be manipulated to the point of being useless.

I wonder how many students are enrolled at St. Paul, vs how many at Jackson, I
would be willing to bet Jackson has 10x the enrollment of St. Paul.
I'm not trying to diminish the accomplishments of the students at St. Paul,
just don't think the playing field is level.

I also beleive economics play a significant role as well.

Jun 14, 2013, 12:26pm Permalink

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