PORTLAND (AP) – The Maine Department of Education says more than one-third of the state’s public schools are falling short under the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act.

State officials said Monday that 38 percent of the of 632 elementary, middle and high schools missed federal performance targets on standardized reading and math tests taken last spring. That’s an increase over the previous year, when 37 percent of 635 schools failed to make what the government calls “adequate yearly progress.”

The No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2001, is President Bush’s centerpiece education reform law. It requires all states to assess students’ performance in reading and math each year in grades three through eight and 11.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-09-09-08 0715EDT