By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Kentucky schools may have surprisingly little to report under a new federal requirement to disclose the performance and progress of minority students, officials said Wednesday.

MAJORITY WHITE

According to the 2000 Census, Northern Kentucky schools are all more than 90 percent white in population. Percent white, by county: Boone County: 94% Campbell County: 96.1% Gallatin County: 96.1% Grant County: 97.7% Kenton County: 93.3% Pendleton County: 98.1%

That is because the majority of the state's 1,200 public schools have student populations that are overwhelmingly white. "How many are all-white is amazing," Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit said.

The new federal education law known as No Child Left Behind holds schools accountable for student progress toward goals of academic proficiency.

It is not enough for a school to make collective progress. It must also be able to show progress in six "subpopulations" of students - black, Asian, Hispanic, low-income, those with limited English skills and those with disabilities.

But another federal law, the Family Education Rights to Privacy Act, prohibits disclosure of data, including test scores, from which students could be identified.

Mr. Wilhoit said that precludes publication of scores by race, disability or other category if the subpopulation has but a handful of students.

Even with a cutoff as low as five students per grade, no elementary school, and no more than five middle or high schools, would have to report scores for Hispanics, Asians or students with limited English proficiency, according to calculations by the state Department of Education.

Hundreds of schools would be exempt from reporting scores for blacks and the disabled as well. Only low-income students exist in numbers high enough to be reported by a majority of schools, according to the figures, which the department said were submitted by the schools themselves.

Helen Mountjoy, chairwoman of the Kentucky Board of Education, said reporting on subpopulations was among topics that have arisen in talks with federal education officials on how Kentucky intends to implement No Child Left Behind.

Federal officials "seemed surprised at the homogeneity of our schools," and did not seem to realize how many of Kentucky's schools are small, Ms. Mountjoy said.

According to the department, blacks make up 9 percent of Kentucky's student population, but three-fourths of black students are found in six districts - Jefferson, Fayette, Christian and Hardin counties, Paducah and Owensboro.

Public schools in Florence, Newport and Covington have the largest and most racially diverse student populations in the region.