While all of the Barren County Schools District’s elementaries met No Child Left Behind (NCLB) progress goals, the high school and the middle school did not.

NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results were released Wednesday and showed that all of Barren’s Title I schools — the district’s six elementaries — met goals set forth by the federal act, while its two non-Title I schools — the high school and middle school — did not.

The district as a whole could face consequences because it is a Title I district, but the schools themselves will not. Only schools that receive federal funding for low-income students face consequences for not meeting AYP.

Lisa Gross, with the Kentucky Department of Education, said the district missed meeting the goals in the areas of overall testing in math, white students tested in math and low-income students tested in math.

In a press release, district assessment coordinator Benny Lile said the district as a whole just missed full AYP based on special needs population and graduation rate.

Dr. Jerry Ralston, superintendent, expressed some frustration. “The Department of Education did a weeklong on-site review last winter. The one area where they found absolutely no deficiencies was in special education. And we continually receive state and national accolades for our efforts with at-risk youth. So for our district to technically come up short, on paper, in these categories is quite perplexing. This is one of the more difficult challenges any school faces.”

He added: “Whether it’s the state of Kentucky or across the nation, this tends to be the area coming up short of goal more than any other. As we have said, we work hard to be better every day. This is just a very difficult area.”

The No Child Left Behind Act authorized a number of federal programs aimed at improving the performance of elementary, middle and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend. The law went into effect in January 2002.

The district has been labeled Tier 3 (second year) due to missing NCLB goals for a fifth consecutive year. There will be districtwide consequences that could affect the high school and middle school.

“Under NCLB, consequences are only applied to schools funded by Title I,” Gross said. “Since the district is subject to consequences, its district improvement plan likely will address issues at all schools, including the high school.”

Ralston said the district will do what it can to improve.

“The school has worked with national experts in the field of exceptional education services,” Ralston said. “District staff has worked directly with the school staff and leadership. This past winter, a team from (KDE) did a weeklong review. The one area they found no problems with was our special services department. I keep saying we work to improve every day and we will continue to do so. However, we will first and foremost work to meet the needs of our students; that won’t change because of a state or federal report.”

The No Child Left Behind act measures schools on the percentage of students – including disabled, minority and low-income – who meet a determined proficiency level.

Barren County High did score well in reading. The target goal was 39.5 and it scored a 60.4.

Barren County Middle School missed two goals – reading for disabled students and math for disabled students.