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Home > What We Fund > Academic Performance

Academic Performance

A Quick Glance at the Issues: Academic Performance

  • 50% of children entering pre-kindergarten are not “ready for school”
    • Limited oral vocabularies
    • Inability to identify letters of the alphabet, shapes, colors
    • Often do not know own given name
  • 60% of 4th graders are not proficient in reading
  • 67% of 8th graders are not proficient in reading
  • 39% of children entering 9th grade in Buffalo Public Schools do not graduate from high school
  • One in three students entering 9th grade won’t graduate with their classmates in 4 years.

Building an improved quality of life and creating economic vitality stem from the development of well-educated students and a strong educational system. That's why we will continue to support efforts that improve access to quality education as well as efforts that increase academic performance. Can you imagine what our region would be like if every student received an education that gave him the tools to succeed in life? We can envision it. And we will help our region realize it by working to raise the academic performance of economically disadvantaged and lower-performing students.

We're already endeavoring to increase the number of students who are prepared to succeed in pre-k and kindergarten by:

  • Supporting efforts to build parenting skills and educate parents regarding child development
  • Supporting school-readiness programs and evidence-based programs that promote quality early education

In addition, supporting evidence-based educational programs that provide for school choice will allow us to provide opportunities for quality educational alternatives.

We hope to increase high school graduation rates and improve academic achievement levels through:

  • Evidence-based programs that increase student retention
  • Support for high-need (low-retention) schools and students
  • Support for programs that provide for different learning styles and needs

Lastly, by supporting college preparation and retention programs; mentoring/on-the-job, skills enhancement and entrepreneurial training programs, particularly those that provide participants with skills that allow them to earn a “living wage,” we will be able to increase the number of students who are prepared for stable and progressively better long-term employment.