Davis, Alpine, Granite and Jordan school districts had petitioned the state on the three-year average rule, Granite District assessment, research and evaluation director Darryl Thomas said.

Davis School District applied both rules in overturning 17 schools' AYP failures this year — an inordinate number for the district, based on past history — before the statewide reports were issued in mid-September.

Jordan School District also overturned 10 schools' designations before the state's report, but reasons were not known at press time Friday. A Friday afternoon phone message to the testing director, who had been out of the office, was not returned.

The 25 Granite schools appealing are in addition to the 11 others the district overturned on appeal in time for the state to issue the public report.

In Alpine, the nine schools under appeal are in addition to nine more reversed before the state issued the AYP report last month, district research and evaluation director John Jesse said.

The actions are particularly relevant for three Alpine and nine Granite Title I schools, which face federal sanctions for repeatedly missing the mark.

"We're just hoping now the state will accept our appeal," Thomas said.

A second rule at issue is relatively new, and affects students with disabilities. Students no longer needing special education services still can have their test scores count in the students with disabilities subgroup for two years.

A similar rule has long been in effect for students who formerly were considered limited in their English language skills.

Presumably, keeping those students in the typically low-performing groups would raise the group's test scores. But not necessarily, Park notes.

Davis School District did cite that rule in granting some schools' appeals.

While more Utah schools stand to make AYP under the three-year average, it's uncertain how many would be affected.

"We won't know (what the effect of applying the rules) would be," Park said. "How many schools would be advanced by it I wouldn't know without looking at the data."

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