Elmwood Village Charter School Days Park, Buffalo NY

Original Research by School Decision on Elmwood Village Charter School Days Park

Elmwood Village Charter School Days Park is a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school in Buffalo, serving a mixed student body reflective of the urban neighborhood in which it sits. The school's enrollment spans nine grades with roughly comparable cohort sizes across the elementary and middle years, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a context where economic need is a material consideration for families and staff.

On state testing, the school shows mixed results that merit a plain reading. In English language arts, proficiency runs strongest in the upper elementary years (fourth grade proficiency is notably higher than third), then declines into the middle grades before recovering in eighth grade. Math proficiency is more uneven: third and fourth grades perform at similar rates, fifth grade shows a marked drop, sixth grade is the lowest point across any tested area, and recovery accelerates by seventh and eighth grades. The science results available show modest proficiency in fifth grade and stronger performance by eighth grade. No recent social studies data are available. Across both subjects and grade bands, proficiency rates sit above the county median when schools are compared across Erie County districts, which is a positive positioning. The school's participation rates in testing are generally strong, with one notable exception: eighth-grade math and English language arts testing show lower participation, which a parent may want to ask the school to explain.

The school is relatively small for its grade span, with enrollment numbering in the low hundreds. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, with Black and white students each comprising roughly a third of enrollment, substantial representation of Hispanic and multiracial students, and smaller populations of Asian and Native Hawaiian students. This composition aligns with Buffalo's urban demographics and offers peers from varied backgrounds.

Buffalo itself is a dense, walkable city organized around distinct neighborhoods rather than sprawling suburbs. The Elmwood Village area is one of the city's recognized residential and commercial centers, with an active street life, shops and restaurants on nearby avenues, and proximity to the downtown core. Housing in the city consists primarily of older wood-frame and brick structures from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with recent investment in downtown conversions and new affordable housing. The regional economy is anchored by government, healthcare, education, and financial services, with M&T Bank headquartered downtown and major health systems spanning the area.

The school is positioned as a charter rather than a traditional public school within Buffalo's system. The charter status itself is a structural choice that affects governance and operational flexibility but does not set academic standards apart. What distinguishes the school are its actual proficiency patterns across grades and subjects, which show strength in upper-grade performance, particular challenges in sixth-grade math, and overall results that place it modestly above county median proficiency. A family considering this school should weigh those results, ask directly about the eighth-grade testing participation gap, and understand that this is a smaller urban school serving a neighborhood community with substantial economic need and demographic diversity.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

New York Regents Exams

2 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Science	24	83.0%
Math	17	71.0%

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · district not reported

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · district not reported

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 348%

School 48% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · district not reported

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 554%

School 54% · district not reported

even with state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · district not reported

even with state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · district not reported

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · district not reported

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Science

Grade 551%

School 51% · district not reported

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 859%

School 59% · district not reported

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 584%

School 84% · district not reported

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolDistrict average, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income38%Higher-income63%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income48%Higher-income89%41 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income72%29 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income50%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income74%34 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income60%Higher-income67%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income45%Higher-income68%24 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income77%49 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income61%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income23%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income57%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income50%Higher-income71%21 pp gap