Two local school districts have been placed into consequential tiers after being deemed unsuccessful by No Child Left Behind assessment measures for consecutive years.

Bowling Green Independent and Warren County Public School districts met 17 of 19 and 23 of 25 target goals, respectively, to meet the adequate yearly progress for the 2008-09 school year.

Because this is the second or third year for both districts to fall short of the 100 percent goal, Bowling Green has been placed in Tier I and Warren County in Tier III of consequences.

Students across the state were assessed based on their scores from the Kentucky Core Content Test, formerly used to measure development across the state.

After Senate Bill 1 was enacted in 2009, a three-year interim period was created until a new state assessment and accountability program is developed for 2012. During that interim, reading and math scores will be used for NCLB annual reporting, while the state develops a new assessment.

Across the board, schools in Bowling Green and Warren County schools exceeded the state averages in almost every category of the KCCT, which include social studies, reading, math, science and on-demand writing.

No Child Left Behind uses a pass-fail system that looks at the reading and math scores divided among subpopulations to determine if the school or district met each of their target goals. Based on the number of students each district has in those subpopulations, such as African-American, Hispanic and special education, it is determined if the district is evaluated on those subpopulations individually.

The goals are set to show an increase in students receiving a proficient or distinguished measurement in reading and math until 100 percent of students can do so by 2014.

If one subpopulation does not meet or exceed the goals set for the entire elementary, middle or high school level for reading or math, then the school and ultimately the district are deemed unsuccessful.

Statewide, only 75 of 175 school systems - 43 percent - met 100 percent of their adequate yearly progress targets. The statewide average for adequate target achievement was 76 percent. Both local districts did significantly better, with Warren County meeting 92 percent (23 of 25) and the city’s district meeting 89 percent (17 of 19) targets.

In Bowling Green, each of the elementary schools met 100 percent of its goals. Yet Bowling Green Junior High School was placed into Tier II consequences after the African-American, free/reduced lunch and students with disabilities subcategories did not meet adequate yearly progress goals in reading. Students with disabilities also fell short in the math assessment category. However, overall, the students at the school as a whole exceeded federal goals for middle school students. The NCLB goal for middle school reading was 66 percent of students scoring proficient or distinguished and 47.81 percent for math. At BGJHS, students overall reaped a 69.47 percent in reading and a 64.71 percent in math.

With the school reaching Tier II consequence status, parents have the option to switch their child’s schools. However, BGJHS is the only middle school in the city and officials said there is no room in already crowded county schools.

Bowling Green Superintendent Joe Tinius said supplemental tutoring, possibly before or after school, will be offered to combat the low scores.

Consequences for both schools and districts involve reporting the unsuccessful status to parents and revising the school’s or district’s plan. In the case of Tier III, technical assistance is provided by the state while the district is subject to corrective action by the Kentucky Department of Education.

Bowling Green High School met the goals of No Child Left Behind for the entire school, but fell short in math for the African-American and free/reduced lunch subpopulations.

Federal guidelines require a 49.54 percent in reading and a 49.85 percent in math for high schools. At Bowling Green, students as a whole scored a 76.23 in reading and 45.42 in math. But the African-American subpopulation recorded a 23.81 and free/reduced lunch subpopulation a 27.78 in math.

Tinius said while there is work to be done, there are a lot of positives to be seen in the numbers.

“In general, I was pleased with the results,” Tinius said. “We see there’s obviously some work we need to do, we need to continue our strong commitment to students with disabilities and making sure the individualized education plans written for those students are appropriate and that we implement them so we provide for them the instruction they need to be successful. I feel we need to renew our effort as it relates to the African-American subgroup.”

Tinius said while those areas will be honed in on, it won’t be at the expense of all students.

“Certainly we’ll be looking at these two areas and will do what it takes to help these students be successful, but I stress, our commitment, though, will always be to all students,” he said. “We won’t become so focused on a particular subpopulation group at the expense of all students.”

With all the elementary schools obtaining 100 percent scores, Tinius said it shows great promise for the future of district test scores as those students progress through the system.

“To be able to sustain such high level of performance year after year is an accomplishment,” Tinius said. “The faculty, students and parents are to be commended because they could easily become complacent and expect it to happen, but they refuse to let that happen. They look at the results every year just as intently as every school in the district to say, ‘How can we continue to improve?’ ”

In Warren County, the district was dropped to Tier III following three years of not meeting all the goals that continue to rise each year in an effort to reach 100 percent.

Both Lost River Elementary and Drakes Creek Middle schools fell short of their targets in reading and mathematics for students with disabilities. Lost River’s subgroup scored a 51.52 percent in reading verses the 67.04 percent goal and 42.77 percent in math compared to the federal goal of 51.53 percent.

Drakes Creek’s students with disabilities scored a 50.75 percent in reading and 41.80 percent in math that was held against the 66 and 47.81 percent goals.

Warren Central High School also fell short in math for its free/reduced lunch subgroup with students scoring 44.73 percent, missing the high school math goal of 49.85 percent.

Warren County interim Superintendent Tim Murley pointed out that as a whole, the district exceeded the KCCT scores for the state in almost every area. He also noted that both Warren Elementary and Warren East High schools met 100 percent of their targets this year after coming up short in 2008.

Like Bowling Green, students in Warren County schools as a whole met or exceeded each of the NCLB targets.

“I stand behind what we’re doing,” Murley said, pointing out that Warren County was one of only five districts in the state required to meet 25 targets. Only Boone and Fayette counties exceeded Warren County, meeting 24 of 25 targets, while Jefferson and Hardin counties each only met 17.

“We will continue our best to meet No Child Left Behind standards,” Murley said. “I think we are working extremely hard and there’s more to a school than test scores. I think I’m proud of the rich environment that has been developed in all of the schools for all children to learn.”

Both superintendents said preventive methods, such as continuous progress monitoring through regular assessment tools, will be used to address issues before they become a problem.

For Warren County, Mary Ellen Simmons, director of special services, said the district is working with Green River Regional Educational Cooperative to receive assistance in reviewing data and implementing changes for reading and math for special education.

“I want people to understand ... we are on the right path but still moving toward the destination,” Simmons said.

Jennifer Davis, director of elementary and secondary programs, said a continued focus on early intervention coupled with the supplemental education - that will focus on subgroups - will be used to improve numbers in the future. The city has also begun a partnership with Western Kentucky University to improve math and reading scores in the high school.

Davis said the district looks beyond NCLB standards to measure student growth such as by measuring increases in ACT, Explore and Plan assessments and by determining if they are making successful transitions into college or careers after graduation.

Officials from both schools said an important tool with measuring assessment data is looking at growth over time, and students at all schools are showing continued progress.

“We will always have room to improve but we sure have a great staff that will work hard to make sure that happens,” Murley said.