For the past several school years, Carrie Stevens has had some inspiration posted on the bulletin board inside her classroom at Buffalo United Charter School. Like professional athletes who post "bulletin board material"” like quotes and stats from members of rival teams to motivate them in battle, Stevens and her students have been staring at test scores from top suburban schools in the area, as well as the best scores from their own school in years past.

"I told them, '‘We can beat these,'"” said Stevens, 26, whose students were recognized over the weekend as one of the top performing schools in the Buffalo region in a regression analysis of test scores conducted by the Buffalo News. Accounting for the demographics of the student population, Buffalo United (94% black, 80% free and reduced lunch) students have been kicking some academic tail in the three years the school has been in existence.


Stevens, who teaches fourth grade, acknowledges she is an extremely competitive person. She played three sports in college, currently coaches college basketball, referees sporting events, and in her spare time plays golf. It is only natural that she would want her kids to be the best academically.

As an undergrad at D'Youville College, in Buffalo, Stevens originally studied physical therapy. But after volunteering at a local school, she was amazed at the natural connection she seemed to have with students. "“The kids started responding to me and I knew I could have an impact," she said.

Stevens was part of the original team of educators who opened the school in September 2003, in a completely renovated bowling alley. The space was renovated by the school's management partner, National Heritage Academies (NHA,) which added a second floor to double the space for the school. Currently, about 500 students in grades K-6 attend BUCS.

Originally, Stevens taught Kindergarten, but her work with the youngsters proved she was capable of pushing her students significant distances over the course of the school year. For her second year, her principal decided to assign her to fourth grade - where charter school test scores matter a great deal. There, she played a role in boosting scores by 20 percentage points.

She says she has gained from the meaningful professional development opportunities provided by NHA in subjects like data-driven instruction, Open Court, technology, classroom management, and other pertinent subject matters.

The best part of working in such a professional teaching environment, Stevens said, is the sense of teamwork and the strong sense of support the teachers feel from NHA, the school'’s board, and the school administration. "They come to the teachers regularly and ask us what we need to better serve our students," Stevens said.

Do you know someone whose efforts for students are worthy of being profiled here? Email us at TheChalkboard@nycsa.org.