AUGUSTA (AP) – Only 36 of Maine’s 118 public high schools made adequate progress this year for both reading and math under the No Child Left Behind Act, the Education Department said Thursday.

Nineteen schools joined the list of those that failed to make adequate progress for the first time, while 51 schools failed to make adequate progress for the second or third consecutive year, the department said.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the number of schools not reaching the targets demonstrates the need for high school reform.

“The failure of many schools to meet the required targets is consistent with our position that schools are not meeting standards for all sub groups and that more work is necessary to bring all students to a higher level of achievement,” she said.

The No Child Left Behind law is designed to make schools accountable for the education of all children by forcing states to examine test scores of subgroups, based on such factors as race and family income.

Maine officials said the state results cannot be compared to last year’s because the SAT reasoning test was used as the high school assessment for the first time.

Replacing the Maine Educational Assessment with the SAT for 11th graders is part of a reform strategy that’s taking place, Gendron said.

School districts also are working with the Department of Education to promote curriculum reforms to better prepare students, she said.

“The use of the SAT in place of the MEA is part of that reform and is already showing signs of success, with anecdotal stories of students who were not considering college now seeing themselves as possible college material,” she said.

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