Three Jackson County schools are on a list of those having failed to meet federal standards and must offer students alternative such as tutoring or transfer to other schools.
The Oregon Department of Education today released the list of 72 schools that have been designated as in need of improvement.
Howard Elementary in Medford landed on the list for failing to get special education students to meet math and English benchmarks set by the state.
Central Point Elementary School is on the list for failing to get special education students to meet math benchmarks for their grade levels.
Mountain View Elementary in White City met all benchmarks in the 2008-09 school year, but, after floundering for several years, must meet math benchmarks in the coming year, too, to be removed from the list.
Butte Falls schools were removed from the list after meeting all benchmarks for two years in a row.
The federal No Child Left Behind law sets targets each year for an increasing number of students to reach state academic standards, with the goal of all students meeting math and reading and writing benchmarks by 2014. For the 2008-09 school year, 60 percent of students had to demonstrate reading and writing proficiency and 59 percent of students had to show math proficiency for a school to make adequate yearly progress.
Specific subgroups, such as students who are Hispanic, Native American, black, still learning English, or have disabilities, must meet the same benchmarks. Schools also must meet an attendance or graduation requirement to meet overall progress goals.
See the full Adequate Yearly Progress report online.
— Anita Burke