For the twelfth year in a row, the Williamsville Central School district has been named top district in Western New York, according to the annual rankings from Business First.

Each year the weekly business journal digs into state data on student testing at the elementary, middle and high school level, and combines them into a measure of performance for each district. 

Clarence placed second, followed by East Aurora, Orchard Park and Amherst.

Williamsville is the only district in Western New York to have half of the students who took standardized tests in English, algebra, geometry, global history, U.S. history, biology and earth science recieve superior scores of 85 or up, according to 2011 state data

Other factors cited by Business First:

• Williamsville ranks as Western New York's best district in three subject areas (English/foreign languages, mathematics and social studies), according to Business First's analysis of 2008-2011 test scores from fourth grade through the senior year of high school.

 

•  Sixty-five percent of last year's graduates from Williamsville's three public high schools earned Regents diplomas with advanced designations. The corresponding figure for the entire region was 42 percent. (A student must pass eight Regents exams to receive an advanced diploma.)

 
"We have a tremendous team effort here. We have terrific students, teachers and administrators, and a community that really values education. It's ideal,"  Supt. Scott Martzloff told the paper.

The complete rankings are online at bizjournals.com/buffalo