Harvey Austin School #97, Buffalo NY

Original Research by School Decision on Harvey Austin School #97

Harvey Austin School #97 serves pre-K through grade eight and sits in Buffalo's East Side, a neighborhood of older housing stock and mixed commercial and residential blocks. The school enrolls roughly five hundred students, the vast majority of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is majority Black with substantial Asian, Hispanic, and smaller white populations.

State assessment data for the school shows weak proficiency across tested subjects and grades. In math, proficiency rates range from the low single digits in the upper middle grades to around mid-forty percent in grade three; in English language arts, the pattern is similar, with the lowest rates in middle grades and somewhat higher performance in grade three. Science proficiency is particularly low. A single social-studies result from 2008-09 is available and shows low proficiency for that year; no recent social-studies data appears. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among the county's districts.

This profile reflects the Buffalo City School District's larger challenges. The district faces a structural deficit and has been reviewing potential school closures, though as of January it decided not to close schools in the upcoming year while pursuing alternative budget planning. A major district initiative is the recent adoption of the Orton-Gillingham phonics-based literacy approach districtwide for early grades, with substantial teacher training investment. Starting in 2025-26, all students in the district receive free breakfast and lunch with no application required under New York's statewide program.

The school's low test scores, when viewed against the district context and the student population's economic circumstances, suggest students arrive at Harvey Austin with significant academic gaps. Whether the new literacy approach and related supports are beginning to move the needle would be worth discussing directly with school leadership. Parents considering this school may want to look into further detail about the implementation of science-of-reading instruction in grades one and two, the availability of targeted intervention in upper elementary, and the school's specific plans to address the gap in middle-grade math and reading performance.

Harvey Austin is a regular public school with no magnet or charter designation, so enrollment follows district assignment. The Sycamore Street location places it within Buffalo's urban grid, with moderate walkability and access to city bus and light-rail transit. The broader neighborhood is part of Buffalo's ongoing redevelopment, with new affordable housing coming online downtown and on the East Side. Local housing is affordable by regional standards, and rental costs in the ZIP code are modest, which supports families with economic constraints.

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Academic performance

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

Advanced Placement & IB

1 subject 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

Other

Language and Comp

1 tested · HS

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

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	13	31.0%

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 34% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 26% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 23% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 611%

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

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

Grade 710%

School 10% · District 24% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 88%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 32% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 23% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 64%

School 4% · District 27% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 710%

School 10% · District 26% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 31% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Science

Grade 53%

School 3% · District 20% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 17% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 814%

School 14% · district not reported

▼ 64 pts below state median · ▼ 61 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 8Lower-income13%Higher-income0%12 pp gap