The state’s education commissioner says 95 percent of Kansas Title 1 schools and districts are meeting testing targets in math and reading.

The Kansas State Department of Education this afternoon released its list of 16 districts and 35 schools on the “needs improvement” list for the 2007-2008 school year, as mandated by the No Child Left Behind law.

Locally, the Tonganoxie and Ottawa school districts made the “needs improvement” list.

“Knowing that this is the fifth year for districts and schools to meet increasingly higher academic achievement targets, the number of schools and districts that continue to meet or exceed expectations is phenomenal,” Education Commissioner Alexa Posny said in a statement.

“While there are Title 1 schools that have not met the targets, these schools have worked tirelessly to ensure continued progress for their students. Technical support will be provided to schools on improvement throughout the coming year,” she said.

Title 1 districts and schools receive funding generally for having a certain number of students eligible for free- and reduced-price lunches. Title I schools and districts that do not make “adequate yearly progress” – known as AYP – for two consecutive years are placed on the list.

No Lawrence schools made the list.

The Tonganoxie district was one of 11 districts identified for improvement based on a certain subgroup of students who did not achieve AYP in math.

Tonganoxie Superintendent Richard Erickson said the district was notified that it was special education at Tonganoxie Middle School. The district’s schools overall met all AYP targets.

“We’re pleased overall. Obviously we’re going to work on the subgroup at the middle school, and I don’t want to just single out a subgroup, because our priority at this district is to help all kids,” Erickson said.

The Ottawa district was already on the list, but it did achieve AYP for 2007. Karla Denny, a state education department spokeswoman, said that will allow the district to delay certain sanctions that come with being on the list for two years.

A school or district must make AYP for two consecutive years to get off the list.

The districts can file an appeal in coming weeks if they disagree with the data released today.

The AYP benchmarks for 2006-2007 were 66.8 percent of students kindergarten through eighth grade and 55.7 percent of high school students achieving proficiency in math.

For reading, it was 69.5 percent for kindergarten through eighth grade and 65 percent for high school students.