* Updated with list of schools. See below: *

Fifteen of the schools in Skagit County did not meet student performance requirements this year under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In the Sedro-Woolley School District, four schools did not meet federal targets. Of those four, three met all of the goals in 2007.

Every school in the Mount Vernon School District, except for Lincoln Elementary, did not meet the federal targets. Of those schools, seven of them met federal goals last year.

The federal law requires a certain percentage of students in public schools to pass the state’s standardized test, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). The law also requires schools to track 37 testing and participation targets. But if a school misses one target out of 37, the entire school does not meet Adequate Yearly Progress, a term in the federal law that describes whether a school meets federal guidelines.

Under the federal law, 100 percent of students must pass their state’s standardized test by 2014. Washington state increases benchmarks every three years to ease districts into the federal guidelines. This year is a stair-step year, and many schools across the state failed to meet targets because the student test pass rate jumped double digits, in some cases more than 20 percent.

A school has to miss Adequate Yearly Progess in one target, or cell, two times in as many years before being listed as needing improvement by the state. If a school is listed as “needs improvement,” the school can face sanctions, including allowing parents to move their children to another school or district.

“If you miss one cell, you’re a loser,” said Sedro-Woolley School District Superintendent Mark Venn. “If you look at a baseball player and they’re hitting 36 of 37 times they’re up (to bat), they are making millions of dollars and they’re the best baseball player in history.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson said every school has room for improvement, but the federal No Child Left Behind “has gone too far.”

“Many of the schools and districts on this year’s improvement list have met tough challenges and have made strong improvements,” Bergeson said. “That work goes unrecognized under No Child Left Behind. The law provides no incentives for reaching ambitious achievement goals, only sanctions and punishments for schools and educators who ‘underperform,’ even in only one of the 37 possible categories.”

To view how your school did, visit http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us, and select AYP from the tab above, then select the school district and the school.

Statewide, 628 schools and 57 districts are failing to meet federal guidelines for adequate yearly progress — about twice as many schools and twice as many districts missed the mark in 2007.

Schools are judged on 37 categories of achievement each year thanks to the federal No Child Left Behind law. Of the 390 schools in the first stage of improvement this year, about 100 of them missed adequate yearly progress in just one or two categories.

The schools and districts made the list in this preliminary report to the federal government because students have done poorly on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning exams for two years in a row. They can earn their way off the list by making adequate progress two years in a row.

• Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .
* The Associated Press contributed to this report.


The following are the Skagit County schools that are in “needs improvement” status. A school must miss Adequate Yearly Progress two years in a row to move down to “needs improvement” status:

Anacortes School District
Home Education Partnership
Learning Opportunity Center

Burlington-Edison School District
Allen Elementary School
Burlington-Edison High School
West View Elementary School

Mount Vernon School District
Centennial Elementary School
Jefferson Elementary School
La Venture Middle School
Little Mountain Elementary School
Madison Elementary School
Mount Baker Middle School
Mount Vernon High School
Washington Elementary School

Sedro-Woolley School District
Cascade Middle School
Central Elementary School
Evergreen Elementary School
State Street High School


The following schools did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress in the 2007-2008 school year. If they miss for a second year in the same subjects, they will fall to “needs improvement” status:

Anacortes School District
Anacortes High School
Anacortes Middle School

Burlington-Edison School District
Edison Elementary School
Lucille Umbarger Elementary School

Concrete School District
Concrete Elementary School
Concrete Middle School

Conway School District
Conway School

La Conner School District
La Conner Elementary School
La Conner High School

Mount Vernon School District
Lincoln Elementary School

Sedro-Woolley School District
Lyman Elementary School
Mary Purcell Elementary School
Sedro-Woolley High School