Seventeen Maui County public schools sank into the lowest status possible after failing to meet federal benchmarks on reading and math tests, in part because of higher proficiency targets, The Maui News reported.

This year's state Department of Education's Adequate Yearly Progress report looks grim compared to last year when 15, or nearly half of Maui County schools, made the grade under the federal school reform law known as the No Child Left Behind Act.

In 2008, only four Maui County schools joined 109 statewide in achieving what is called Adequate Yearly Progress. The other 27, including Kihei Public Charter School and Kualapuu Elementary, a charter school on Molokai, did not hit the required proficiency targets. (Pomaikai Elementary School in Kahului was exempt because it's only been in existence for one full school year.)

Preliminary results issued Thursday at a Board of Education meeting in Honolulu showed that 113 Hawaii public schools, or 40 percent of those statewide, met annual proficiency targets this year. That's down from 184 schools, or 65 percent, that reached the goals last year.

No Child Left Behind requires annual reviews of student test scores in assessing whether schools are showing progress toward a goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by the year 2014.

A school is subject to federal sanctions if it misses the adequate yearly progress benchmarks for two consecutive years. Schools' test results put them in categories ranging from good standing to restructuring, which requires school administrators and staff to undergo special training and to obtain a private educational consultant for strategies in increasing student test scores and overall achievement.

For Maui County, 10 schools are in good standing, 17 are in restructuring status and the remainder are at status levels in between.

This year's proficiency levels were raised from 44 percent to 58 percent in reading, and 28 percent to 46 percent in math. Students in grades 3 through 8 and those in the 10th grade were graded based on the Hawaii State Assessment and other indicators.

The proficiency levels are applied to the school as a whole, and then to subgroups defined by ethnicity, poverty levels, English proficiency and special education needs.

If any subgroup is deficient, the entire school is judged to have fallen short of adequate yearly progress.

For 2008, 68 schools statewide, or 24 percent, missed making the annual benchmarks by one or two areas. Hana High and Elementary School was one of them.

"I got mixed feelings about it. I'm happy, and I'm disappointed," said Hana Principal Rick Paul.

Ever since the federal act went into effect about six years ago, Hana has never be able to meet the annual progress requirements.

But students who've taken the tests have improved their scores, and Paul was particularly proud this year when he saw gains of as much as seven to 10 percentage points over one year.

Still, it wasn't enough, and Hana High along with 16 other schools in Maui County, have been placed into "restructuring" status, making them subject to No Child Left Behind sanctions.

"It was so close, it was unbelievable," Paul said Thursday when he had only begun to analyze the test results.

Hana's situation was similarly matched at Lahainaluna High School, where Principal Mike Nakano noted that his 10th-graders far exceeded proficiency levels in reading, but fell short in math.

"I'm still proud of the school. I'm still proud of our students," Nakano said.

Seventy-five percent of this year's testing 10th-graders at Lahainaluna reached the required reading proficiency level, compared to the federal benchmark of 58 percent. In math, Lahainaluna was short, with only 34 percent making the grade, as opposed to the required 46 percent.

Nakano also noted that his students did better than most 10th-graders in Hawaii who were at 65 percent to 67 percent proficiency in reading at their schools. Lahainaluna students were on par in math with their state counterparts who were 31 percent to 34 percent proficient in math.

"I'm still pleased because we made improvements," Nakano said. "We've just got to look at areas where we need to work on."

Lahainaluna was the first Maui high school in 2007 to meet federal progress standards among 10th-graders. To celebrate, Nakano and members of his staff agreed to have their hair dyed red, one of the two primary school colors, during a campus assembly held in the first quarter of the 2007-08 school year.

In April, Lahainaluna staff and students showed support to the testing sophomores with treats and handmade signs of encouragement. The 10th-graders were also promised a repeat celebration complete with educators dying their hair red and students being offered a special meal.

"Hopefully we can make it next year," Nakano said.

In anticipation of the test results, Maui Complex Area Superintendent Bruce Anderson and about a half-dozen school principals traveled to New Orleans this week to attend training in specific strategies to raise student achievement and test scores.

Not wanting to take anything for granted, Paia Elementary School Principal Sue Alivado also attended the training in New Orleans. Alivado's campus, Kula Elementary, Pukalani Elementary and Maunaloa Elementary were the only four Maui schools that met adequate yearly progress this year.

"Just because we're unconditional, we're still working hard," Alivado said.

Prior to the last two years, Paia Elementary had not made adequate yearly progress until it came under the federal sanctions and was provided outside assistance from a private consultant to help it raise test scores.

Contacted by cell phone Thursday, Alivado said she was proud and happy about this year's test results. "Definitely I'm happy about it. You can't be more elated about that," she said.

She credited partnerships established with the school's private consultants, who helped her teachers and staff focus on helping students achieve the required test scores to meet the benchmarks.

"The most important reason (for success), the staff has really made a commitment to make it work," she said.

Paul also credited his private consulting company in improving Hana's scores and said in many ways, restructuring has helped both teachers and students focus.

"I feel great about the gains we've made. . . . We're just going to continue doing what we've been doing," he said.

Meanwhile, Kahului Elementary School, which had made adequate yearly progress benchmarks in 2007, was unable to match the same success this year. Also contacted by phone in New Orleans, Principal Fern Markgraf said she has not been able to delve into the details of the test results. Still, she was hopeful.

"Kahului School has a caring, dedicated teaching staff who will continue to direct attention and assistance to the children in the gap subgroups of economically disadvantaged and English language learners who need extra help to meet proficiency," she wrote in an e-mail.

"Looking to the future, Kahului School staff will continue to work with Edison Learning (the school's private educational consultant) to provide our children a solid standards-based curriculum," Markgraf said. "We will do whatever it takes to help each and every one of our children be successful in school."

Department of Education Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said she expected more Hawaii schools would fail to meet proficiency benchmarks this year because of higher requirements to achieve them.

"The true significance of the results is our students are applying and practicing what they are being taught in the classroom," she said. "Without a doubt, student achievement in Hawaii continues to improve."

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