TORONTO -- There are three public middle schools in Jane-Finch. Two struggle with high suspension rates and standardized test scores that fall well below the provincial average. The third, nestled in the southeast corner of the district, shines like a beacon for parents.

In the six years since principal Rose Clarke arrived at Elia Middle School, standardized test scores have gone from rock bottom to near the provincial average.

In 1999, fewer than 20 per cent of Elia students reached or exceeded the provincial standard on reading and math tests. Last year, 60 per cent of them met or surpassed the standard in reading, while 57 per cent were at or above the math standard.

And academic success has been coupled with remarkably few suspensions.

In the first six months of this school year, five students were suspended at Elia, while Oakdale Park and Brookview, the other two public middle schools in Jane-Finch, handed out 95 and 81 suspensions, respectively.

Nancy Spencer, the principal at Oakdale Park, said Elia's advantage is that it draws students from a more stable and affluent part of the community, mainly removed from the low-income apartment towers and public housing developments that line Jane Street.

Parents of Elia's students are more likely to live in single-family dwellings, and that often means higher levels of education and income, as well as more support for education at home, she said.

During a given academic year, as many as 200 students, almost 30 per cent of the school population, will move into or out of Oakdale Park, she said. Elia, meanwhile, has a stability rate of more than 90 per cent.

The Toronto District School Board's learning opportunities index, which ranks schools in order of need based on factors such as parental income, education and time in Canada, places Brookview 47th, Oakdale 61st and Elia 105th of more than 500 schools.

Barry Morrison, director of special programs at Elia, said the schools all take students from the same cross-section of Jane-Finch. Elia's academic success is due to a highly developed curriculum, and to its teachers, who devote hundreds of extra hours to helping their students, he said.

Stephnie Payne, the local school trustee, says Elia's methods should be emulated by the other schools.

"A lot of teachers and administrators seem to think it's all due to the home environment," she said. "The community may have some socioeconomic and other risk factors, but that doesn't mean a child cannot learn. It's all about the tone and the leadership in the schools."

Ms. Payne calls the suspension rate at the other schools "absolutely disgraceful."

Roseneath Jackson, principal at Brookview, said one reason for her school's high suspension rate was last summer's wave of gun violence. Three Brookview students were shot in the preceding 12 months, and students returned in turmoil.

"It was in your face. It was a total disregard for teachers. . . . The children were running rampant," she said. The suspensions helped restore some order, and after January fewer were handed out. Alternative forms of punishment are being used to keep kids in school, including a small desk in Ms. Jackson's office where troublesome students can spend the day.

Of the 183 students leaving Brookview for high school next year, 72 are considered below level 1, the standard for a passing grade. That's a failure rate of 39 per cent among eighth-graders, although it includes special-education students. They are being promoted according to board policy. Sadly, Ms. Jackson says, most of those students will never finish high school.

"It's not because they don't have the ability. For a lot of these children, they refuse to do the work. They show up every day but they don't do anything. They're mostly children who aren't supervised in the evening," Ms. Jackson said. "We try involving the parents, but that's a big challenge for us."

Ms. Clarke, who is leaving Elia after this year to work closer to home, says her staff are constantly forced to turn away parents. It's one of the few schools with an instrumental music program, and a remedial math program runs every day at lunch to give students extra help. She has a good mix of experienced teachers and enthusiastic young people fresh out of teachers college.

Roman Chamale, the math and science co-ordinator, oversees a robotics team that last year won the Toronto District School Board robotics competition and was fifth in the province.

Mark Caine, a computer teacher, has given up his Saturdays to build a filmmaking club with David (Sudz) Sutherland, director of the recent CTV movie Doomstown.

Shaneez Tyndall, 13, is one of the aspiring artists in Mr. Caine's group.

She's graduating from Elia this spring, and her mother, Marcia, a physician trained in Cuba, says the school has helped her daughter develop into a well-rounded student.

Last year, Shaneez made it to the finals of the Ontario spelling bee. She's also a member of the choir and takes part in the Go Girls group, which helps young women with issues such as peer pressure and self-esteem.

In Grade 6, a teacher paid out of pocket to courier lessons to New York when Shaneez travelled there with her parents. This year, one teacher refuses to accept work below a certain standard, handing back inferior assignments and demanding they be redone. These are small things, Ms. Tyndall says, but they illustrate the school's commitment to unlocking the potential of every student.

"This neighbourhood is not one of the best neighbourhoods in Canada, but when you send your daughter to a school that delivers education like this, you want to hold on to it and tell other parents about it," Ms. Tyndall said. "It's kind of like a lighthouse -- I don't want to say in a dark place, but it's a lighthouse for the community."