Cazenovia Central School District has been selected as one of the top 100 school districts in New York state, according to a list developed by research analyst company Niche.
Cazenovia was number 97 on the list, which ranked the top 100 public school districts based on the ‘grades’ of 12 factors, including academic, health and safety, students culture and diversity, teachers, resources and facilities, extracurriculars and activities, sports and fitness. A minimum of five surveys from former students, alumni or parents were required for a school district to qualify.
Niche, formally CollegeProwler.com, is a research analyst company of private and public school districts, as well as colleges in the United States.
Best Public School Districts ranks 8,738 school districts based on dozens of key statistics and 4.6 million opinions from 280,000 students and parents. According to Niche’s website, “A high ranking indicates that the district contains great schools with exceptional teachers, sufficient resources and a diverse set of high-achieving students who rate their experiences very highly.”
Cazenovia received an overall grade of A, with the lowest rated score being student culture and diversity, which was a C.
According to the survey, Cazenovia’s average graduation rate is 95 percent, compared to the national average of 81 percent. The student to teacher ratio was reported as being 13:1 and expenses per student were listed at more than $6,000 above the national average.
“We love the recognition … our teachers, students and community deserves it,” said Cazenovia District Superintendent Matt Reilly. “Rankings are a product of great teaching and learning, and are not the goal. … Our goals are to educate students to be successful later in life and be great citizens.”
Cazenovia routinely gets included in the annual list of best school districts in New York state by Buffalo-based Business First magazine, was recently named one of the best high schools in the U.S. by Newsweek and, in 2012, Burton Street Elementary School as recognized as a 2012 Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education.
Other CNY school districts in the Niche ranking included Fayetteville-Manlius (no. 27), Jamesville-DeWitt (no. 34), Skaneateles (no. 58) and Hamilton (no. 64).
To read the full list of top public school districts in New York state, go to k12.niche.com.
Hayleigh Gowans contributed to this report. Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
