At West Middle School in Roosevelt, just 3 percentage points kept the school on Utah's "school improvement" list for the sixth consecutive year, a state record.

It wasn't poor standardized test scores that kept the school on the list — and vulnerable to state- and federally mandated sanctions — but attendance.

"You see, we needed to achieve a 93 percent attendance rate," said Deborah Clarke, principal of the Uintah District school. "And we achieved 90 percent."

Fourteen Utah schools are on the improvement list this year as a result of not meeting No Child Left Behind test score criteria, also called Adequate Yearly Progress.

Sanctions for schools on the improvement list for two or more consecutive years range from a directive to hire tutors for students to the state taking over a school's day-to-day operations.

The only schools sanctioned are ones designated "Title I" by the federal government, which means 40 percent of the student body are economically disadvantaged. Washington infuses extra money into such schools in hopes that extra programs and personnel will help students succeed.

West Middle School's place for six years on the improvement list could result in the state or district taking over the school.

That likely won't happen.

State law prohibits the takeover of a school unless approved by the Legislature, Utah State Office of Education spokesman Mark Peterson said.

The Uintah School District hired Clarke as a new principal at the beginning of the school year. She sees the new job as a challenge and prefers to focus on the positives — such as the fact that each of the 10 "subgroups" that range from ethnic groups to students with disabilities performed well academically on the 2005-06 tests. That's an improvement from 2004-05, when one group, disabled students, failed to make AYP.

With only 135 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, "we have a real small school population," she said. "Three to four students could make the difference for us."

Brent Shaw, principal of Copper View Elementary in Midvale, hired tutors at his school before he learned that the school did not make AYP again. He was ahead of the state: The sanctions for the third year on the improvement list include the hiring of tutors with the federal Title I money.

Like Clarke, Shaw said his teachers are hard-working and dedicated.

"I'm not saying we don't need improvement — we all need to improve — but when you do and work as hard as you can and get labeled a failing school, of course it's hard," he said. "What we focus on is what is best for kids."

Some factors involved in academic success are beyond a teacher's control, such as socioeconomics. Several schools in Ogden's city district failed to make AYP. But the district's spokeswoman notes that the city's high rate of poverty makes teaching a challenge.

"A lot of the motivation for the teachers to work hard is intrinsic," Ogden School District spokeswoman Donna Corby said. "They're at inner-city schools because they are passionate. ... They want to do the best. They want to level the playing field for all children."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com