Top Middle Schools in WNY

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) - Transit Middle School is once again the top-rated middle school in Business First's annual academic rankings, its fourth straight year in first place.

This is the seventh time that Transit has held first place since the middle school rankings were launched in 2002. The Williamsville school was No. 1 in 2003, 2005 and 2006 before beginning its current four-year streak in 2009.

Full details will be available in Business First's 2012-2013 Guide to Western New York Schools, which hits newsstands on Friday. Highlights are also available at the newspaper's website .

Transit remains on top because of its consistent strength in math and English:

-- It's Western New York's best middle school in math, based on Business First's analysis of standardized test scores from 2008 to 2011, and it is third-best in English. (City Honors School of Buffalo is No. 1 in the latter subject.)

-- Transit is the only school in the eight-county region where more than 50 percent of seventh graders and eighth graders earned superior scores on their statewide math tests in 2011. (Superior is defined as a Level 4 score on any middle school test.)

-- It's also the only school where more than 10 percent of all students in seventh and eighth grades received superior marks on last year's statewide English tests.

Business First analyzed the academic records of 211 middle schools throughout Western New York. (Middle schools typically encompass sixth through eighth grades, though some begin with fifth grade.)

Ratings were based on four years of test scores compiled by the New York State Education Department.

This year's runner-up is City Honors School, which occupied the same position in 2011. It ranked third in 2010 and fourth in 2009.

City Honors, which extends from fifth through 12th grade, is both a middle school and a high school. Its students are confronted with an accelerated curriculum. Fifth graders, for example, are expected to work at a sixth grade level.

Third through fifth places in this year's middle school standings belong to Casey Middle School, St. Peter School and St. Gregory the Great School. Casey and St. Gregory are both in Williamsville.

Business First does not rank private middle schools that opt out of the state testing program, since there is no objective way to rank them. Among the prominent schools that are not rated are Elmwood Franklin School, Nichols School and Park School of Buffalo.

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TOP 100 MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN BUSINESS FIRST'S RANKINGS (EACH SCHOOL IS FOLLOWED BY THE DISTRICT IN WHICH IT'S LOCATED; SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR ABBREVIATIONS)

1. Transit MS (Williamsville)
2. City Honors School (Buffalo)
3. Casey MS (Williamsville)
4. St. Peter School (Lewiston-Porter)
5. St. Gregory the Great School (Williamsville)
6. St. Mark's School (Buffalo)
7. Heim MS (Williamsville)
8. St. Christopher's School (Sweet Home)
9. Kadimah School of Buffalo (Amherst)
10. Mill MS (Williamsville)
11. Christ the King School (Amherst)
12. Amherst MS (Amherst)
13. Stella Niagara Education Park (Lewiston-Porter)
14. East Aurora MS (East Aurora)
15. St. John Vianney School (Orchard Park)
16. Christian Central Academy (Williamsville)
17. St. John the Baptist School (Alden)
18. Clarence MS (Clarence)
19. Nardin Academy ES (Buffalo)
20. St. John the Baptist School (Kenmore-Tonawanda)
21. Queen of Heaven School (West Seneca)
22. Orchard Park MS (Orchard Park)
23. St. Mary's School (Williamsville)
24. St. John Lutheran School (Niagara-Wheatfield)
25. St. Mary's of the Lake School (Frontier)
26. Holland MS (Holland)
27. Alden MS (Alden)
28. St. Mary's ES (Lancaster)
29. Veronica E. Connor MS (Grand Island)
30. Iroquois MS (Iroquois)
31. St. Leo the Great School (Sweet Home)
32. St. Stephen School (Grand Island)
33. Frontier MS (Frontier)
34. Immaculate Conception School (East Aurora)
35. Chautauqua Lake Secondary School (Chautauqua Lake)
36. East MS (West Seneca)
37. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament School (Lancaster)
38. St. Peter & Paul School (Hamburg)
39. St. Aloysius Regional School (Springville-Griffith Institute)
40. St. Joseph School (Batavia)
41. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School (Clarence)
42. Holy Ghost Lutheran School (Niagara-Wheatfield)
43. St. Peter & Paul School (Williamsville)
44. Hamburg MS (Hamburg)
45. Southern Tier Catholic School (Olean)
46. DeSales Catholic ES (Lockport)
47. St. Francis of Assisi School (Tonawanda)
48. Maple Grove JSHS (Bemus Point)
49. Lancaster MS (Lancaster)
50. Southwestern MS (Southwestern)
51. Our Lady of Pompeii School (Lancaster)
52. Catholic Academy of the Holy Family (Jamestown)
53. Wyoming Central School (Wyoming)
54. Akron MS (Akron)
55. Lewiston-Porter MS (Lewiston-Porter)
56. Alfred-Almond JSHS (Alfred-Almond)
57. Starpoint MS (Starpoint)
58. Griffith Institute MS (Springville-Griffith Institute)
59. St. Benedict's School (Amherst)
60. Barker MHS (Barker)
61. Immaculate Conception School (Wellsville)
62. West MS (West Seneca)
63.