HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Fewer Pennsylvania public schools are meeting the state's academic expectations because more students are being required to pass math and reading tests, the state education department said Thursday.

But Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said the annual academic achievement report also shows significant improvement over the past several years in the number of students who have mastered the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment math and reading tests.

• How Did Your School Rank? Find Out Here, On The Education Department's Web Site

Four school districts in Allegheny County -- Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Sto-Rox and Woodland Hills -- did not make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act during the 2007-08 school year, according to the state's annual report.

Sto-Rox is in the "warning" category. The other three are in "corrective action 2," considered the most serious category.

Pennsylvania calls for at least 63 percent of students to be proficient or advanced in reading and at least 56 percent in math. School districts administer the tests in grades 3-8 and grade 11.

More than 2,100 schools -- 69 percent of all public schools -- made adequate yearly progress last year, according to the report. That is down from 2,300 schools (74 percent) in the previous year.

Zahorchak noted that since 2002, student achievement has improved statewide, with seven in 10 students on average meeting the standards.

"We have more kids than ever before achieving ... across all grade levels, and we're quite proud of that," Zahorchak said.

He attributed the decline in the number of schools making progress to the more stringent passing requirements for the tests.

In some cases, schools can be classified as making adequate progress even if they fall short of those goals. The state allows exceptions for schools whose results fall within a certain sampling error and for those that reduce the number of failing students by at least 10 percent.

Attendance, graduation and test-participation rates are also used to measure progress. Pennsylvania requires a 90 percent attendance rate for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and an 80 percent high-school graduation rate.

---

Related Links:

• More County News
• Add Us To Your iGoogle Or My Yahoo Page
• Download Our Free Desktop Alert For Breaking News

---