The Department of Education is considering applying for a pilot program that changes the criteria for determining whether schools have shown enough improvement to avoid sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act.

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced last month that up to 10 states would be allowed to try a "growth model" rather than relying solely on test scores to determine whether schools have met expectations.

Under the current rules, Hawai'i has the highest percentage of schools missing "adequate yearly progress," as well as the highest percentage of schools in varying degrees of corrective action under NCLB, according to a study that will be released in today's Education Week.

"There's a great deal of interest within the department" regarding the growth model, said Robert McClelland, director of the state DOE's planning and evaluation office. "We'll have to see if the data we have will allow us to do that."

So far, the DOE has not run simulations to see whether a growth model would allow more schools to demonstrate improvement without meeting the benchmarks set by the state. It is also unclear whether the state has the technology needed to track the progress of individual students, which would be needed under a growth model.

In its study, Education Week, a newspaper widely read by educators and policymakers, explored how states have fared since Spellings relaxed some of the requirements under the law that will require all public school students to be proficient in core subjects by 2014.

Hawai'i is among 25 states that have lost ground since 2004.

Because states set their own academic benchmarks and criteria for determining whether schools have met "adequate yearly progress," the Education Week study does not provide a state-by-state ranking.

Instead it looks at each state's percentage of schools meeting adequate yearly progress levels, the percentage of schools that have missed the targets for at least two consecutive years and the percentage of fourth- and eighth-grade students proficient in reading and math.

Hawai'i saw improvement among fourth-graders in both subjects, while eighth-graders stayed the same in math and fell a percentage point in reading.

However, because of steep increases in the targets, more schools lost ground, even though many would have made it under last year's thresholds.

"There was clearly some improvement from last year to this year, but because the threshold increased, it also seemed to slide back," said DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen. For example, schools that barely made targets last year could have improved 10 percent and still missed expectations this year.

"That's where it would be good if we did qualify for a growth model," he said. "There might be more appropriate acknowledgment for that kind of improvement."

The sanctions cut into the DOE's budget as the department is forced to provide tutoring or bring in outside service providers to help get students to perform at grade level.

The contracts with three education companies to help two dozen of the most struggling schools this year carried a $7.9 million price tag.

Hawai'i's test scores have generally looked unfavorable when compared with other states, in part because its standards are considered more rigorous.

McClelland said the DOE has hired an outside consultant for an independent study of how the state's standards compare with those of other states.

Test scores are not the only reason why the state has more schools under NCLB sanctions. Unlike some states, Hawai'i did not "turn back the clock" when the federal law took effect, and schools remained in the same status they had been in under the old law.

Hawai'i was also ahead of many states in getting its assessments off the ground, another possible factor in having a higher number of schools under sanction, McClelland said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.