The Associated Press State & Local Wire (Las Vegas) July 24, 2009

HEADLINE: Clark County district falls short on NCLB goals

The Clark County School District fell short of No Child Left Behind goals for the recent school year, education officials said.

The district's board members announced Thursday that the district did not meet "adequate yearly progress" under the federal law in 2008-09. The district, among the nation's largest, did meet the standard in 2007 and 2008.

While the district's test scores were high enough overall to satisfy the state's benchmarks, the district and individual schools must also meet standards for subgroups of students broken down by ethnicity, special education status, limited English proficiency and free- or reduced-price meal eligibility.

The district missed the mark in a number of those areas across all grade levels.

Of the district's 361 schools, 171 didn't make adequate progress. Of those, 38 missed in one subgroup area and another 37 missed in two subgroups.

Schools have to demonstrate achievement in 37 different categories.

School board member Sheila Moulton said that an "all or nothing" approach to the "adequate yearly progress" standard is frustrating.

"Our students have made tremendous progress but that sometimes gets lost in the message," she said.

Still, Moulton said she's grateful that No Child Left Behind forces educators to look at "every single child."

Lauren Kohut-Rost, the district's deputy superintendent of instruction, said that while the district tried to keep budget cuts away from classrooms as much as possible, they still had an effect. Less money meant fewer chances for remedial students to get extra help, and also meant an increased workload for teachers, she said.

Districtwide, 11 campuses were rated as high-achieving and six high school programs were recognized for continued exemplary achievement, a new category this year added by the Nevada Education Department.

Schools that don't make adequate progress can be forced to replace staff, including the principal, or take measures like offering students transfers to more successful schools.

This year the district has 14 schools on the "needs improvement" list for the sixth straight year.