This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Correction: A graphic published Monday about schools' Adequate Yearly Progress contained several errors. Bountiful Junior High, Central Davis Junior High, Bloomington Elementary and Hurricane High made AYP toward the goals of No Child Left Behind. Bloomington Hills Elementary did not make AYP. Also, Sunset's Doxey Elementary School made AYP last year. A photo caption was incorrect on that point.

A record 27 percent of Utah schools failed to make adequate progress toward federal education reform goals last school year, data released today show.

That compares with 18 percent of Utah schools that fell short the previous year.

Educators throughout the state said the slide is no surprise because schools had to reach higher this year to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education reform law than in years past.

"I would have been more surprised if [the failure rate] didn't go up," said Judy Park, Utah Office of Education associate superintendent for data, assessment and accountability.

NCLB's goal is for all students in the country - regardless of disability, income or ethnicity - to be reading and doing math on grade level by 2014. To reach that goal, Utah schools are expected to bring more students up to grade level as time passes until they eventually all reach 100 percent.

This year, more students had to be on grade level than ever before for schools to make AYP.

As a result, more Utah schools than ever before - 256 statewide - failed to make enough progress. Statewide, 665 schools met all the goals. Schools that both fail to make enough progress and accept federal money for serving low-income areas face consequences that vary in severity depending on how many years they have failed.

This year in Utah, 13 schools will face such sanctions.

Many educators think it will only get worse in the future as the goals get loftier.

"By 2014, when all of the schools are supposed to have 100 percent proficiency, I suspect we might have zero schools in the United States passing this thing," said Darryl Thomas, director of research, assessment and evaluation for the Granite School District.

Clyde Mason, director of accountability and program services for the Jordan School District, said he's relieved Jordan didn't do worse than it did. This year, 26 Jordan schools didn't make AYP, compared with 22 last year.

"We feel pretty good about that," Mason said. "We feel like we're making some strong progress in a number of areas."

Most other districts also saw more of their schools miss the mark this year.

Last year, 22 Granite district schools failed to make AYP. This year, that number grew to 29 traditional schools, according to the district.

Thomas said it's especially frustrating that so many of those 29 in Granite just barely missed the mark.

To make AYP, schools must meet goals in each of 40 categories. If a school misses just one of those categories, the whole school fails to make the grade.

Thirteen of the 29 Granite schools that "failed" fell short in only one of the 40 categories.

Monroe Elementary in West Valley City missed the mark by only one test point in one category, Principal Launa Harvey said. One special education student scored one point too low on the state math test, she said.

"It's heartbreaking," Harvey said. "There's so much good going on at this school that to come down to one point and say, 'You're failing,' is tough."

The strict pass-or-fail system is one reason the pending reauthorization of NCLB is so controversial. Legislators across the country are putting forth proposals ranging from tweaking the law to scrapping it. Those who would scrap it would rather see states set accountability standards.

Many state educators already favor the state U-PASS system over NCLB measures.

Only 73 percent of Utah schools met federal goals this year, but 85 percent of middle and elementary met state goals under the U-PASS system. The state U-PASS system doesn't fail schools based just on the performance of groups of ethnic, economic and special education students like NCLB does.

Critics of U-PASS, however, say NCLB does a better job of forcing schools to focus on each student, especially minority and low-income students. NCLB also includes sanctions for some schools that don't meet goals for at least two years in a row, whereas U-PASS does not.

Those sanctions can include having to pay to bus students to other schools, offering tutoring and eventually restructuring.

Proponents of the federal education reform law say consequences, or accountability, can sometimes force schools to work harder to help certain groups of students.

Brighton High in Salt Lake City didn't make AYP in the 2005-06 school year and might have faced consequences if it had failed to make AYP this year.

But Brighton bucked the trend, making AYP this year despite the tougher standards. Brighton missed the mark the previous year because one group of students didn't test well enough, Principal Rebecca Laney said.

As a result, Brighton paid extra attention to that group of students last school year, Laney said.

"I made a general announcement to the faculty that this is the group of students that need extra attention in every single one of their classes," Laney said.

Laney doesn't think NCLB is perfect. For one, it puts too much emphasis on testing, she said. But she thinks the strain of trying to make AYP in 40 categories each year has done some good for her school.

"It has made us really focus on this idea that we need to work really, really hard to do everything we can to help kids be successful in school," Laney said. "I guess out of everything that's negative you can have some positive results."

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* LISA SCHENCKER can be reached at lschencker@sltrib.com or 801-257-8999.

How AYP differs from U-PASS

* Philosophy: AYP focuses on group performance, with all students expected to be proficient in math and language arts by 2014. U-PASS focuses on individual student improvement, with all students expected to be proficient or improving.

* Demonstrating proficiency: To meet AYP, every group within a school must achieve the academic target, and academic targets increase every two years until 100 percent efficiency is achieved in 2014. To meet U-PASS, 80 percent of every group in a school must demonstrate proficiency or must demonstrate a specific level of progress toward proficiency. Both systems require 95 percent participation.

* Sanctions: Depending on the number of years a school fails to meet AYP, 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. There are no sanctions associated with failure to meet U-PASS standards.

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