By Jennifer Mrozowski
Enquirer staff writer

Seventy-four Southwest Ohio schools did not meet federal student achievement goals for two or more years, and many must offer kids transportation to better-performing schools this year, according to state achievement data released Tuesday.

Forty-nine of the schools that missed their goals were in Cincinnati Public, the area's largest district.

The number considered under-performing in Southwest Ohio is twice that of last year. That is, in part, because high schools were not rated before.

The number of under-performers is up statewide, too. Ohio has 429 this year, compared to 191 last year.

Still, state officials say they are glad most Ohio schools met their goals.

"Results at the building level are encouraging," said J.C. Benton, Ohio Department of Education spokesman. "Eighty-three percent of Ohio schools (3,239 of 3,901) are meeting federal (improvement) goals."

The achievement goals are part of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President Bush in 2002. Schools are required to show progress in student achievement, or suffer sanctions.

The goals for last year were:

• 40.5 percent of fourth-graders passing reading and 35.9 percent passing math.

• 36 percent of sixth-graders passing reading and 36.8 percent passing math.

• 66.2 percent passing the reading portion of the Ohio Graduation Test and 52 percent passing math.

• 73.6 percent graduation rate or improvement from the year before.

• 93 percent attendance rate or improvement from the year before.

Some schools that didn't meet goals have to offer parents the option to transfer their children to another school. Others must offer tutoring, change key staff or develop a corrective action plan.

Schools that don't have students in the grades tested, like Princeton Junior High, receive the rating of the school they feed into.

For example, Princeton Junior High only had seventh and eighth grades last year. Because those grades aren't tested as part of the federal law, the junior high received the rating of the high school. This year, the school will be a middle school for grades 6, 7 and 8.

High schools don't suffer sanctions but parents will receive letters saying the school missed its federal goals.

Some schools are celebrating because they shed the under-performing label.

Madison Elementary in Hamilton City Schools analyzed its test scores to see where kids needed the most help and offered tutoring in reading and math.

"We modified our instruction not only to meet the needs of the kids but also to make sure that instruction was truly focused on the things we knew the students were going to be held accountable for," said principal Deborah Alf.

The school held a meeting with staff Tuesday to announce the success to teachers.

"As an administrator, I'm very proud of the efforts of teachers and students," she said.

Other school officials said the rating system this year wasn't fair for high schools.

Last year, high schools were rated on both Ohio Proficiency Test scores, which last year's 10th-grade students must pass to graduate, and on the new Ohio Graduation Test, which the students had to take but did not have to pass to graduate. (This year's 10th-graders are the first who must pass the Graduation Test because Proficiency Tests are being phased out.)

Withrow University High School, which received an excellent rating on the state report card released Tuesday, missed its federal goals for the Ohio Graduation Test. The school did not win its appeal of its federal rating and was labeled as underperforming.

Western Hills University High School in Price Hill received an "effective" label - the second-highest of five state rankings for student achievement.

But the school is also labeled under-performing by the federal government because it missed its federal goals.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to meet passing rates for subgroups, as well as the whole school population. For example, schools have to meet passing rates for poor students, white students, African-American students and other individual groups. Schools also have to meet participation rates for test-takers.

Western Hills University met its passing goals for tests but just missed the participation requirement for the white subgroup.

The federal goals require at least 95 percent of children to take the tests. But Western Hills University had only 93.8 percent of white children - or 45 of 48 - taking the test. If one additional white student had taken the test, the school would have met its federal goals.

"The students' actual proficiency was very high," said Elizabeth Holtzapple, the director of research and evaluation for Cincinnati Public Schools.

Holtzapple said the district tried to appeal the rating because officials couldn't justify having the school labeled under-performing for missing the participation rate by one student. The district lost the appeal for that school and several other schools.

"The state does a very good job of trying to meet the spirit of the No Child Left Behind law, but what they put together is not perfect," Holtzapple said.

Mount Healthy High School missed its goals by one student in the poverty subgroup. That caused both North and South middle schools to be labeled under-performing because they feed into the high school.

But Superintendent David Horine said he was pleased the high school improved in several areas, including in attendance and on the 10th-grade science test.

"As a whole, our school still did tremendously well," he said. "I can't let this overshadow the improvements that were made."

---

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com

Southwest Ohio schools found wantingThe No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to meet goals for attendance, graduation and passing rates on state tests two years in a row.

Elementary schools that didn't meet their goals suffer sanctions if they receive federal money for poor students.

Some of the consequences are that schools must offer transportation to a better-performing school. If there is no better-performing school where kids can be transported, the school must offer tutoring.

For some schools that have missed goals for longer, schools must institute a new curriculum, decrease school management authority, appoint an outside expert, extend the school day, replace key staff or reorganize the administration of the building.

Schools that have to offer any of the above services will notify parents.

Those schools that didn't meet goals both years are:

Butler County

Middletown City Schools: McKinley Elementary; Middletown High; Stephen Vail Middle; Taft Elementary

Fairfield: Fairfield Intermediate

Clermont County

West Clermont: Amelia High School

Hamilton County

Cincinnati: Academy of World Languages; Aiken Traditional High; Bramble; Carson Elementary; Central Fairmount; Chase; Entrepreneurship High; Gamble; Hays; Heberle; Heinold; Hoffman; Hyde Park; Jacobs High; John P. Parker; Kirby Road; Lafayette Bloom; Losantiville; Midway; Millvale; Mount Airy; North Fairmount; Oyler; Pleasant Hill; Pleasant Ridge; Quebec Heights; Roberts Paideia; Rockdale Academy; Project Succeed Program (now closed); Roselawn Condon Elementary; Rothenberg (merged with Vine this year); South Avondale; Sands Montessori; Schwab; Silverton Paideia; William H. Taft Elementary; Robert A Taft High School; Vine (merged with Rothenberg); Virtual High; Washington Park; Western Hills Design Tech; Western Hills Traditional High; Western Hills University High; Whittier; Windsor (merged with Douglass); Withrow International High; Withrow Traditional High School; Woodward High School; Withrow University High

Mount Healthy: Duvall (housing preschool only this year); Frost Elementary; Mount Healthy High; North Middle; South Middle School; Rex Ralph Elementary

North College Hill: North College Hill Jr./Sr. High

Northwest: Colerain High

Norwood: Norwood High

Oak Hills: Oak Hills High

Princeton: Princeton Junior High; Princeton High (turning to middle school this year)

Charter schools: A.B. Miree; Cincinnati College Prep; East End Community Heritage; Greater Cincinnati Community; Life Skills Center Cincinnati; Life Skills Center Middletown; T.C.P. World Academy

Jennifer Mrozowski