By Karen Gutierrez
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Twenty-four of the 80 schools in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties failed to meet their performance goals under the No Child Left Behind Act, state officials announced Monday.

HIT OR MISS

• Schools that missed their goals (PDF 12k) These 24 schools in Northern Kentucky did not meet all of their goals for improving test scores under the No Child Left Behind Act. Each school has overall goals for reading and math, along with goals for distinct groups of students. To be considered a group, such students must number at least 10 in the grade level being tested, or 30 for the total school.

That's better than Kentucky as a whole. Statewide, 40 percent of schools didn't meet their goals, compared to 30 percent in Northern Kentucky.

Only Latonia Elementary in Covington must deal with consequences this year. Because it has not met its goal for three years in a row, Latonia must give children the option of transferring elsewhere.

The other 23 schools in Northern Kentucky have a year to improve before facing this possibility.

Latonia's history helps explain its status. Three years ago, the school served all the gifted children in the Covington district. When that program was discontinued, the gifted youngsters returned to their home schools. Latonia's test scores fell dramatically, district officials said.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act has been in place for two years. It requires every state to report annually on school progress as measured by student test scores. Kentucky uses its own Kentucky Core Content Test.

The report released Monday reflects the math scores of fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders and the reading scores of fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders.

No Child Left Behind zeroes in on the test scores of specific groups of children. Kentucky had already been doing this but the analysis is new for some states.

The categories are white non-Hispanic, African-American, Hispanic, limited English proficient, Asian and low income.

If a school has at least 30 children in one of these groups, or 10 at the grade level being tested, then that group's performance must be reported. If even one group fails to meet yearly standards set by the state, then the entire school is deemed unsatisfactory under No Child Left Behind.

In Boone County, only Collins Elementary School in Florence got such a rating - and only because its 22 disabled fifth-graders didn't do well enough in math, says Pat Murray, district director of curriculum and assessment.

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E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com