The top reported proficiency rate is 94% in Social studies. The lowest is 49% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Highland Elementary School
Highland Elementary School sits on Erie Road in Derby, a hamlet on the Lake Erie shoreline in the southwest corner of Erie County, about eighteen miles from Buffalo. It serves kindergarten through fifth grade within the Evans-Brant Central School District, publicly known as Lake Shore. The school draws from a community that blends waterfront residential neighborhoods, a Route 5 retail corridor, and a rural-agricultural backdrop, with no dense walkable downtown to speak of. Civic life organizes around parks and the lakeshore rather than a town center.
The enrollment is moderate in size for an elementary school covering this grade band, and the student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic and multiracial students making up the next largest groups and a smaller American Indian/Alaska Native presence. A meaningful share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting the school serves families across a real income range. Data on English learner counts and students with IEPs were not available in what was provided.
On the New York State Testing Program, which assesses grades three through five, Highland posts results that look solid relative to its neighbors. Across math, ELA, and science, the school's combined proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Erie County, a meaningful position in a county with more than fifty districts. Within the school, third-grade ELA and math proficiency rates are the strongest, with a majority of tested students reaching the proficient-or-above threshold. Fourth grade holds up reasonably well in both subjects. Fifth grade shows a dip, particularly in science, where fewer than half of tested students scored proficient or above. That science result is worth a conversation with the school about where fifth-grade science instruction is headed and how it connects to what students will encounter in middle school.
Participation rates vary by grade and subject, running from around two-thirds to roughly five-sixths of enrolled students on any given assessment. Parents may want to ask the school about how participation gaps are tracked and whether any patterns exist within subgroups. Trend data across years was not available in what was provided, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, stability, or decline from prior years.
Social studies assessment data was not available for the current testing cycle; only a much older result appeared in the data, from a period when the school enrolled substantially more students.
The parent district has been active on several fronts. A major capital project, approved by voters and publicly reported as carrying no additional tax burden because it draws on state building aid and expiring debt service, is working through the facilities over multiple years, upgrading classrooms with modern lighting and climate control, and building out a new athletic campus with turf fields. That work affects the high school and athletic grounds more than the elementary building directly, but families entering the district now will pass through it. The district also reorganized attendance zones starting in the most recent school year, requiring new students to enroll in the building assigned to their address, so a family's specific location in Evans or Brant now determines which elementary building their children attend. The district also offers a free full-day Universal Pre-Kindergarten program run in partnership with the Southtowns YMCA, which families with four-year-olds would want to look into before Highland proper.
Housing in the Derby area runs well below the statewide median for New York and below the national benchmark, making the corridor relatively accessible for buyers in the Buffalo metro. Values have been appreciating, and the Erie County market as a whole has seen inventory rise and homes move fairly quickly, with median days on market staying low. Rental data specific to the Derby zip code was not available.
For a family weighing western New York elementary options, Highland offers a school that performs toward the stronger end of its county peer group, sits inside a district making real physical investments, and occupies a lakeshore community with recreation and a lower cost of entry than much of the metro. The fifth-grade science dip is a real data point, not an alarm, but worth tracking as students move toward middle school.
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