Topeka ? The Baldwin school district made progress the past year in reading scores but remained one of six statewide still needing improvement, according to a preliminary list released Tuesday by the Kansas State Board of Education.

“We were quite pleased with the progress, overall, of our schools,” said Baldwin Supt. Jim White. “Certainly, if we progress as nicely as we have this year next year, then this improvement (list) that we’re on will be a thing of the past.”

The district must continue to improve for a second consecutive year to be removed from the list.

In addition to the six districts statewide, the state also identified 15 schools needing improvement. The schools and districts at some point failed to make enough progress in assessments required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Neither the Lawrence school district nor any of its 21 schools were on the list.

The list of schools statewide is shorter than in the previous year, when seven districts and 30 schools missed the mark. Six of those seven districts improved enough to come off the new list, as did 22 individual schools.

All of the schools are “Title I” schools, a status based on the percentage of students receiving free and reduced-cost lunches. Of about 1,600 schools in the state, 665 have Title I status.

Results for non-Title I schools will be released in October, along with the outcome of any appeals made by the Title I schools. Schools and districts have 30 days to appeal.

State Education Commissioner Andy Tompkins told board members the numbers were proof educators statewide were “working like a son of a gun” to help students improve.

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Alexa Pochowski, assistant state education commissioner for learning services, echoed that sentiment.

“Schools and districts take this very seriously,” she said. “I think, overall, people will be very pleased.”

Board members encouraged the state to get the information into the hands of teachers and district officials as quickly as possible.

The state’s math goals for elementary schools were 53.5 percent proficient, 38 percent at high school. Elementary reading goals were 57.3 percent proficiency, 51 percent for high school. Pochowski said the greatest gains were being made in math, a result of changes in instruction in 2000.

She also said the number of schools on the list could change, because Wichita school district officials continue to review data. The district and four of its schools were on last year’s list. Also, two schools on the list last year have since closed.

Being listed as “on improvement” carries some implications. Schools on the list have to provide parents the option of transferring their children to another school in the district before school begins or at semester break if school is in session. Districts on improvement are provided technical assistance from the Kansas Department of Education to improve performance in areas that have caused them to fall below “adequate yearly progress,” the measure mandated by No Child Left Behind.

But Pochowski pointed out that any district with struggling schools would receive assistance. Non-Title I schools also can receive technical assistance, but aren’t subject to the requirements that apply to Title I schools on improvement.