2 schools thrilled to leave NCLB's 'below par' list

Two Utah schools that have been on the "school improvement" list for years have finally made it off the roster and are performing up to par — making the kind of progress the federal government demands.

But two more schools made their debut on the list.

School leaders say the good news is that nine schools designated in "school improvement" are on their way out if they perform well one more year.

"There was a lot of high-fiving," said Mark Peterson, principal of Central Middle School in Ogden School District. "Everybody is excited, even the students, but for the teachers it is like a huge burden has been lifted."

Peterson said Central has been on the school improvement list for about 10 years and finally made it off this year. Lapoint Elementary in Uintah School District made it off after being in school improvement for seven years.

"We have kind of turned our Back-to-School Night tonight into a celebration — we have our 'Congratulations' banners up," Peterson said.

This year 14 Utah schools face sanctions under No Child Left Behind.

NCLB aims to have all students, regardless of ethnicity, disability or poverty, proficient in language arts and math by 2014. It measures schools' work toward the goal in public "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, reports.

The reports are black and white. Schools must have all students in each ethnic and other group meet state testing goals, and they must have an average 95 percent of students taking the tests, or the whole school fails to make AYP.

But sanctions only apply to schools that have lots of students coming from poor homes.

Schools that get Title I funding and don't make AYP two years in a row are put on the school improvement list, with subsequent sanctions intended to whip them into shape.

Schools going into school improvement face sanctions ranging from offering to transfer students to higher-performing schools to having the state take over.

But they can get off school improvement by making AYP two years in a row. The problem is, the state raises the bar every other year, making the task even tougher.

And the longer they are in the hot seat, the more sanctions they face.

So, it's no surprise schools are celebrating. And educators in schools that have been on the list say a lot of hard work goes into getting off.