Lawrence elementary schools and Free State High School met all state testing standards last year, officials said Wednesday.

But Lawrence High School students with disabilities did not meet state standards in math assessments. And “subgroups” at each of the four junior highs also failed to meet some of the standards.

Administrators called the news “varied” Wednesday, as they announced the preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress results for the 2006-2007 assessments. AYP is how the federal government determines progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.

“We have done a good job of getting there. We do have a couple of problem areas,” said Terry McEwen, the district’s director of assessment, research and school improvement.

The scores reflect results in the reading and math assessment tests.

“It tells the story of how students did on one day on one test in reading or math,” McEwen said.

A subgroup is 30 or more students at a school or in the district, such as those who qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch; student with disabilities, English-language learners and students classified by race.

In reading, the AYP targets for proficiency were 69.5 percent for third- through eighth-grade and 65 percent in high school.

In math, the targets were 66.8 percent for third- through eighth-grade and 55.7 percent for high school.

As the current law is written, the targets increase every year, and in 2014, 100 percent of students must be proficient in reading and math.

In a statement, Superintendent Randy Weseman said the district has 90 percent of students meeting state assessment standards in nine elementary schools in reading and six of them in math. He also said efforts to improve at both high schools was paying off.

Not meeting targets

These junior high schools had subgroups that did not meet the targets:

¢ Central Junior High failed to meet school-wide standards in reading and math. Students on free- or reduced-price lunch and students with disabilities also failed to meet math and reading standards.

¢ South Junior High failed to meet school-wide standards in math. Students receiving reduced lunches, students with disabilities and black students failed to meet reading and math standards. White students failed to meet math standards.

¢ Southwest Junior High students receiving free- and reduced-price lunch, along with English-language learners, did not meet standards in reading and math.

¢ West Junior High students receiving free- or reduced-price lunch, students with disabilities and black students did not meet math standards.

District-wide, students met almost all targets – but students with disabilites did not meet reading standards.

District leaders said only a certain number of special education students can take a different assessment test than what all other students take. The district had 49 more special education students than allowed take a modified test.

So, 49 modified test scores were randomly classified as regular tests, which caused the district not to make AYP in special-education category.

“Even if we do an adequate job, we can’t control that part of it,” said Kim Bodensteiner, the district’s chief academic officer.

The Kansas State Department of Education will release preliminary data details Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, and Lawrence district leaders said the numbers on how each school performed will be available then.