Utahns' attitudes toward the nationwide education reform law haven't changed much since.

Some Utah legislators still want the law gone, saying the federal government should take its bureaucratic hands out of the state's schools. Many educators say they will never reach the law's goal of having all students reading and doing math on grade level by 2014.

But the real question isn't one of attitude, it's one of academics. Has achievement by Utah students improved? Is NCLB working in Utah half a decade after its inception?

Depending on whom you ask, the answer is yes and no.

The percentages of students reading and doing math on grade level in Utah has largely increased since 2002. Some groups of disadvantaged students also are catching up with their peers. According to a 2007 Center on Education Policy report, the gaps in certain test scores between white and Latino students and low-income and wealthier students has narrowed.

Some educators say the law has helped shine a bright light on low-performing students, especially minority and low-income students who might otherwise have been forgotten. Others say the law has done more harm than good, and its goals are still unrealistic.

"We have warned our schools that every one will fail by the time 2013-2014 rolls around," said Utah State Schools Superintendent Patti Harrington. "It demands things that are fairly ludicrous."

'Something we can't change'

Utah classrooms are not the same places they were before NCLB.

Schools now live and die by the results of Criterion Referenced Tests given each spring to students in grades one through 11. The scores on those tests help the federal government determine whether a school is making Adequate Yearly Progress toward NCLB goals.

Schools that don't make AYP can eventually face consequences such as state takeover. As a result, many have changed the way they do business.

Test have become more important than ever.

Sally Sansom, principal at East Midvale Elementary School, said her school last year held an assembly with a magician who performed tricks while offering test-taking strategies. This year, students who reach certain attendance goals each month will receive toy dog tags as rewards.

High attendance during tests is required to make AYP.

Sansom doesn't think NCLB is perfect, but her school has been able to hire highly qualified assistants to help with reading intervention and specialists to help teachers with professional development.

East Midvale has learned to use testing data to shape its teaching strategies.

"With everything, there's a positive and a negative side," Sansom said. "Since this is something we can't change, we've chosen to use it to our advantage to better serve students."

Copperview Elementary Principal Brent Shaw said his Midvale school, which failed to meet NCLB goals in 2006, likely will hold an assembly about a month before the Criterion Referenced Tests this year.

He likes how NCLB has forced schools to focus on each individual student's achievement. Still, he believes the goal of having all students proficient in math and reading by 2014 is simply not possible.

Under the reform law, certain ethnic and economic groups of students within a school must reach certain goals each year. If one group doesn't reach those goals, the whole school fails.

The school is not allowed to leave one child behind.

Some say the pressure produces results.

"It's really done us a great service in showing us that there are children in our public schools who are not getting the education we think they're getting," said Holly Langton, education commissioner for the state PTA.

Others say it produces only frustration.

"It's just demoralizing to not only the teachers but the communities," Shaw said.

'Never even heard about it'

Many Utah teachers and teaching organizations mince no words when describing how NCLB has changed their lives.

Sixth-grade teacher Mary Lamb at Hillsdale Elementary School in West Valley City said testing and test preparation leave little time for the fun stuff.

"You can't say let's stop and make a Mother's Day card for our moms this week," Lamb said. "What we're getting now is a canned type of education."

Many teachers say they're not being allowed to teach using methods they know best.

"It would be like telling the doctor you can only give this drug and can't give anything else regardless of your experience, knowledge and training," said Granite Education Association President Jay Blain.

Plus, educators wonder whether parents even care about NCLB.

Not one of 10 parents randomly questioned at two schools - one in a beautiful neighborhood with gated homes and the other near a freeway in a poorer area - knew anything about AYP. Some had heard of NCLB but weren't sure what it meant.

"I never even heard about it," Salt Lake City's Franklin Elementary parent Jodi Schluter said of the reform law. "I just talk to the teacher to see how he's doing. I love this school. They challenge my son."

Even those who said they support or understand the law admitted they don't use AYP to gauge their schools' success.

"If my kids are happy in their classes and seem like they're learning, those are good things on which to judge a school," said Melissa Seastrand, a parent at Cottonwood Elementary in Holladay.

Taking the credit

Educators don't like the idea of schools being labeled as "failing," especially when they've only missed goals narrowly.

That's part of the reason some, such as Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, believe Congress should scrap NCLB instead of reauthorizing it. He also doesn't believe it has accomplished its goals, rather he asserts the program has "morphed" to claim success that states really earned. The higher proficiency numbers in Utah are not necessarily the result of NCLB, he said.

"If a bird flies over the Capitol, somebody will claim NCLB motivated the bird to do it," he said.

Most educators, however, acknowledge the reform law is not going away.

And Utah can't afford to simply disobey the law. To do so would mean losing about $104 million of education funding from the federal government.

"The reality is we've got what we've got, and now we have to deal with it," said Utah Republican Rep. Kory Holdaway, who is also a teacher.

He is torn. He likes the accountability of the law and how it forces educators to focus on individuals, but he doesn't like the heavy hand of Washington, D.C., in Utah.

"It's the tail wagging the dog, so to speak," Holdaway said. "The states need to be allowed to do their jobs."

Utah Education Association President Kim Campbell would like to see "some major renovations."

She and other state leaders say they would like to see a revised law take into account students' academic growth rather than just whether they hit a target. She also would like to see a change to the requirement that all teachers be highly qualified. Getting highly qualified teachers can be a challenge for small, rural districts.

State Superintendent Harrington thinks those are a few of the things wrong with NCLB. Ultimately, she doesn't think tweaking the law is enough.

"It's still tightening the screws in the car rather than taking out and replacing the whole engine," Harrington said.

lschencker@sltrib.com

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* MATT CANHAM contributed to this report.

What is AYP?

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports measure whether a school has met a series of criteria including attendance, testing and graduation rates required under the federal No Child Left Behind education reform act.

All categories of students must meet the requirements for a school to "meet" AYP. Only Title I schools - those receiving federal dollars because of their significant low-income student populations - can face consequences for not meeting AYP. Depending on the number of years a school has failed to meet the criteria, parents may be given the option of moving their children to another school or receiving tutoring. In extreme instances, the school's staff and curriculum may be replaced.

To meet AYP in Utah, a school must have:

* An attendance rate of 93 percent or better;

* A high school graduation rate of at least 85.7 percent;

* At least 95 percent of students must be tested (in all groups greater than 40 students).

At the high school level:

* 76 percent of students must pass the Language Arts state test.

* 59 percent of students must pass the math state test .

At the elementary and middle school level:

* 77 percent of students must pass the Language Arts state test.

* 71 percent of students must pass the math state test.

Coming Monday

See how your school did when the Utah State Office of Education releases new Adequate Yearly Progress reports along with school-by-school performance on Utah's own school accountability system. Complete results will be available at www.sltrib.com.