Olathe ? Baldwin Elementary was the only school in Douglas County on a state roster of schools struggling to make steady improvement on student assessment tests.

But it had company from schools in nearby districts, including ones in Leavenworth and Franklin counties.

They were among 51 Kansas schools included Tuesday on a list of schools required to more aggressively serve students who are not performing well enough. None of Lawrence’s public schools were on the list.

Other schools from the region tapped for improvement included Ottawa Middle School, Leavenworth’s Nettie Hartnett Elementary, Edgerton Elementary in the Gardner-Edgerton district and Westview Elementary in Olathe.

Tom Mundinger, principal of the 486-student elementary in Baldwin, said his school must make two consecutive years of adequate yearly progress to get off the “designated for assistance” list.

Based on 2002 student testing, the Baldwin school had achieved one year of progress.

“That gives us one year under our belt,” Mundinger said. “If we make progress again, we’ll be off the list.”

The new list released to the Kansas State Board of Education during a meeting in Olathe identified Title I schools in need of improvement. The Title I designation applies to schools receiving supplemental government funding for remedial reading and math programs.

Andy Tompkins, state commissioner of education, said it would be improper to refer to the 51 schools as “failing.”

“In most cases, these are schools that are doing a good job of helping a portion of their students learn,” he said. “However, there is another portion of their students that they have been unable to reach.”

That’s what happened at Baldwin Elementary, Mundinger said.

He said the school originally had been flagged for an inability to move enough students up from the lowest performance levels on fourth-grade math exams and fifth-grade reading tests.

An after-school tutoring program was expected to improve the school’s scores on the math and reading assessments next spring, Mundinger said.

Supplemental educational services to students, including tutoring, is required of schools on the list. Parents also are given the option of enrolling their children in another school in a district, with the district paying for transportation.

The state’s previous list included 118 deficient Title I schools. About 700 of the state’s 1,640 schools are considered Title I buildings.

Starting in 2003, the number of Title I schools designated for assistance will be calculated based on a revised set of criteria set out in the federal education law known as “No Child Left Behind.”