Amherst Central High School, Amherst NY

Original Research by School Decision on Amherst Central High School

Amherst Central High School is a mid-sized public high school in Amherst, a large suburban town northeast of Buffalo where the University at Buffalo anchors the local economy and civic life. The school sits in an established community with a mix of quiet residential neighborhoods, commercial corridors, and university-linked professional and tech employment. The town includes the Village of Williamsville, which has a walkable historic center, and several hamlets; it is now largely developed, with recent focus on mixed-use reinvestment and affordable housing.

The school enrollment is balanced across grades nine through twelve, with a student body that is majority white and includes Asian, Black, and Hispanic students in substantial numbers. Roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a moderate spread of economic need across the school. Special education data and English learner enrollment counts were not available, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about services for students with identified needs or emerging multilingual learners.

State assessment results, graduation rates, and chronic absenteeism data were not provided, leaving academic performance and attendance patterns unclear from available sources. This gap is common for individual schools where district-level or regional data is the reporting focus; a parent should request the school's most recent New York State assessment results, graduation rate, and any district benchmarking or school-choice materials that may offer that picture. The school operates within Amherst Central School District, which adopted a 2023-2027 strategic plan organized around Teaching and Learning, Student Life, and community pride, after a post-pandemic realignment.

The district is in the middle of a multi-year capital improvement project approved in 2022. High school construction is slated for summer 2025, which will bring facility upgrades including security enhancements with secured entrances and improved lighting, a full auditorium renovation, and athletic field work. In May 2026 voters approved additional propositions to replace the aging steam heating system and further enhance the high school's auditorium and gymnasium facilities. These upgrades will improve the physical plant and student experience but come with a property tax increase that families considering the district should factor into their housing decision. Construction activity will also affect campus life and schedules for the next few years.

The broader Amherst setting offers assets for students. Amherst State Park, an 80-acre green space with trails, sits along Ellicott Creek near Williamsville. The University at Buffalo's North Campus is embedded in the town, creating professional and academic influences. Public transit runs along major corridors, and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is within a short drive. The housing market in Amherst's 14226 zip code shows median home values in the low-to-mid range for the region, with modest year-over-year appreciation and reasonable rental availability; affordability relative to regional and national benchmarks is moderate, with rent-to-income ratios around a quarter of household income.

For program specifics, course breadth, AP offerings, or other academic details that differ from state averages, a parent should contact the school directly or visit its website, as those details were not included in the available data. The school is a regular public high school with no charter or magnet status, serving the broader Amherst Central district population.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

96.0%Cohort of 209 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Advanced Placement & IB

20 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus AB

21 tested

85.7%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

10 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Precalculus

49 tested

98.0%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

18 tested

72.2%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

41 tested

80.5%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

36 tested

94.4%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

19 tested

63.2%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 2

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

European History

64 tested · Grade 10

79.7%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

47 tested

78.7%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

22 tested

90.9%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

74 tested

98.6%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

French Language and Culture

2 tested · Grade 9

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Music Theory

5 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

74 tested · Grade 10

73.0%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

36 tested

94.4%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

7 tested

57.1%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

48 tested

93.8%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 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
Ela	226	88.0%
Social Studies	211	93.0%
Math	143	95.0%
Science	128	89.0%

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.