Native American Magnet, Buffalo NY

Original Research by School Decision on Native American Magnet

Native American Magnet serves pre-K through eighth grade in Buffalo and is a regular public school within the Buffalo City School District. The school enrolls a diverse student body, with substantial shares of Black and Asian students and a meaningful representation of Hispanic and Native American students. Nearly all of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic circumstances of the neighborhoods it draws from. The school is small to mid-sized within its grade range, with enrollment spread across ten grades.

Academic performance across tested subjects is weak. In math, proficiency declines sharply as students progress through the grades: third graders show proficiency around the midpoint, but by seventh and eighth grade proficiency drops steeply, with only a small share meeting state standards in eighth grade. English language arts follows a similar downward arc across grades. Science proficiency in tested grades, fifth and eighth, is quite low. When measured against other districts in Erie County, Native American Magnet's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. State testing data in social studies is available only from 2010 and is no longer current.

A parent may want to look into what the school is doing to address the steepness of proficiency decline in the upper grades and what support systems are in place for students as they approach middle school. The district itself has recently adopted a science-of-reading, phonics-based literacy approach districtwide, including full Orton-Gillingham training for kindergarten and first grade, representing a wholesale change in reading instruction that affects all elementary families. That initiative may take time to show measurable effect.

The broader Buffalo City School District is navigating substantial financial pressures, with a four-year structural deficit and ongoing budget constraints, though district leaders decided in January 2026 not to close any schools despite earlier closure plans. Universal free breakfast and lunch, available to all students starting in the 2025-26 school year with no application required, is a concrete resource for families. The district's ongoing financial strain could affect staffing, programming, or school operations going forward, and this is something families may want to monitor.

Buffalo itself is an urban setting with a walkable grid of mixed residential and commercial neighborhoods, anchored by a downtown core and organized around commercial avenue strips. Historic housing stock dominates, and the city is in an active redevelopment phase with new mixed-use development and adaptive reuse projects underway, particularly downtown. The housing market shows moderate affordability relative to income, with median home values in the low-to-mid range for the region.

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Academic performance

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

New York Regents Exams

1 course 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	14	14.0%

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 34% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 26% · ▲ 26 pts above district

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

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 23% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 25% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 24% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 18% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 32% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 23% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 26% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 22 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 713%

School 13% · District 26% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 31% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Science

Grade 513%

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

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

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 17% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 562%

School 62% · district not reported

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 845%

School 45% · district not reported

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 30 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.