Utah's superintendent of schools and the U.S. education secretary, often cast as opponents in Utah's challenge of No Child Left Behind, finally met face-to-face Tuesday — a premiere meeting both sides characterized as cordial and productive.

Patti Harrington hopes the hourlong meeting in Washington, D.C., begins a respectful dialogue that could lead to more flexibility for Utah as it implements the federal school accountability law.

"I feel comfortable about having met a chief goal of the meeting today, which was to build a relationship and come to an understanding of one another and an opportunity to begin building the bridge rather than feeling like we're at odds all the time," Harrington said. "I think it's the first place we have to start when we want to build communication and work toward a win-win."

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings characterized the meeting as productive and "is very pleased with what Superintendent Harrington had to say," reported Susan Aspey, U.S. Department of Education press secretary.

"It was a very very cordial meeting — everyone shares the same goal: educating kids," Aspey said in an e-mail. "Secretary Spellings considers Superintendent Harrington to be a valuable partner in school reform and appreciates the superintendent's willingness to work together to implement this law in a way that benefits all of Utah's children. The secretary committed to doing everything she can to help Utah education officials and praised the state for being early adaptors to accountability" on some levels.

No Child Left Behind aims to have all students, regardless of race, income level or disability, do well in reading and math by 2014. Schools missing the mark are reported as such. Chronically low-performing, low-income schools receiving Title I federal funds face sanctions — ultimately, having the state take over.

The law is intended to close achievement gaps by holding schools accountable for each group's performance.

But the all-or-nothing approach offends Utah's state school brass and legislative leaders. They have received national headlines for challenging the law's reach as federal intrusion on state rights to public education.

Last April, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed into law a bill prioritizing Utah's educational goals ahead of federal goals and devoting resources accordingly.

That put Utah among 47 states "in some stage of rebellion against NCLB," including seeking waivers, considering lawsuits and, as some Illinois school districts have done, forgoing federal money, NCLBgrassroots.org reported last August.

Harrington has assured Utah would remain in compliance with federal mandates and therefore keep more than $100 million in funding that largely benefits low-income children.