Dr a Pantoja Comm Sch Excllnce -#18, Buffalo NY

Original Research by School Decision on Dr a Pantoja Comm Sch Excllnce -#18

Dr. A Pantoja Community School of Academic Excellence is a pre-K through eighth-grade public school in Buffalo serving a small to mid-sized enrollment. The school sits in a city neighborhood that is mixed residential and commercial, with older housing stock and ongoing redevelopment activity. Buffalo itself has transformed significantly in recent years, with downtown becoming increasingly mixed-use and neighborhoods like Allentown and Elmwood Village developing strong street life and walkability. The broader economic context includes major anchors in healthcare, state government, banking, and education, with growing investment in housing and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.

Pantoja's student body is diverse and economically stressed. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the broader Buffalo context. The enrollment is split across Asian, Black, Hispanic, and other groups in roughly equal proportions. The school draws from a neighborhood and from families across the district.

On state assessments in math and English language arts, the school's proficiency profile is weak. In English, third-grade students show relative strength at just under mid-range proficiency; eighth graders show moderate proficiency. In grades four through seven, and across all tested grades in math, proficiency rates fall well below the midpoint among Erie County districts. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to other schools in the county. In science, testing occurs in grades five and eight only; fifth grade proficiency is very low, while eighth grade reaches low-to-moderate range. Science assessment data for other grades was not available, likely because those grades are not tested under New York's state assessment schedule.

The school's curriculum has been shaped by the Buffalo City School District's recent adoption of a phonics-based, science-of-reading approach districtwide, including mandatory Orton-Gillingham training for kindergarten and first-grade teachers. This shift represents a fundamental change in how early literacy is taught and affects every elementary student in the district. The reading proficiency results, particularly in grades four through seven where performance is weakest, may reflect the implementation curve of that new approach or other underlying factors a parent may want to discuss with school leadership.

Buffalo City Schools faces substantial financial pressure. The district is working through a multiyear structural deficit and in January 2026 reversed an earlier decision to close schools, instead adopting an alternative budget plan. While the district decided not to proceed with closures this year, the ongoing financial constraints and possibility of future consolidations or staffing reductions are a reality that could affect program stability or school operations over time.

On the positive side, all students in Buffalo City Schools now receive free breakfast and lunch with no application required, a significant support for families managing food insecurity.

The school's small to mid-sized enrollment allows for a personalized environment, and the West Avenue location sits in an urban neighborhood with decent walkability and transit access. Parents considering Pantoja should understand that current academic results, particularly in math and upper-elementary reading, are well below districtwide and county benchmarks, and the school's path to improvement is still unfolding under the district's new literacy framework and other initiatives.

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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	21	29.0%
Math	18	22.0%

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 34% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 47%

School 7% · District 26% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 51 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 23% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 25% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 24% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 40 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 18% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 32% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 416%

School 16% · District 23% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 27% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Science

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 20% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 17% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 558%

School 58% · district not reported

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · district not reported

▼ 63 pts below state median · ▼ 59 pts below county median

This schoolBUFFALO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, 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.