WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Set in AMHERST, New York, WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is an average-sized elementary-level community, overseen by SWEET HOME CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT. It enrolls 427 students across grades pre-K through 5.

Within SWEET HOME CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, which oversees 6 schools and 3,773 students, WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL logs that the largest single group is White at 49%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school logs 21% Black, 12% Asian, 10% Hispanic, 9% multiracial. By comparison, Erie County as a whole is about 74% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school employs 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.0:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 12.8:1 average. An estimated 31% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Erie County (around 51%), the school's rate is south of typical.

After controlling for student poverty, WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 63.5%; this one comes in at 43.5%, -20.0 points off the demographic line.

Around the school, Erie County reports that median household income runs about $72,839, 38% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. In all, Erie County runs 226 public schools (combined enrollment of about 122,519 students), of which WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one.

The closest other public school is SWEET HOME SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks 9th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 57.1%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has rose 30%, going from 328 students in 2018 to 427 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 67% to 49%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 13.7:1 in 2018 to 12.0:1 today.

On the community side, members of the WILLOW RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.