Some of the first schools to be forced into mandatory restructuring under the No Child Left Behind law are not making the major changes the plan envisioned, according to a new study.

The schools are taking such minimal steps as hiring full- or part-time "turnaround specialists," so restructuring is not turning out to be a "primary agent for change" under the federal requirements, said the Center on Education Policy.

The Washington, D.C.-based center studied school districts in Maryland, a bellwether because it is among the few states that began compiling student performance statistics even before implementation of the No Child law. That means it is among the first states to have schools reach mandatory restructuring, the law's final stage of penalties, which occurs when schools fail to meet testing standards for six straight years.

"School districts are opting for restructuring that is not radical," said Jack Jennings, president of the center, which is financed by groups such as the Hewlett Foundation, the Gates Foundation and the Ford Foundation. "We think that will be the national trend."

The No Child law, enacted in 2002, is promoted by President Bush as a means of ensuring that all public school students reach minimum competency levels in subjects such as math and reading by 2014.

Schools that fail to meet testing standards for two consecutive years must let students transfer to a different school in the district, then pay for tutoring in the third year. Schools facing restructuring in the sixth year can take such steps as eliminating the school or firing all teachers, or smaller actions such as revising curriculum or retraining staff.

Maryland in the past school year had 79 schools, or about 6 percent of its elementary and secondary facilities, either in the fifth year of failing test scores, meaning they must begin planning for restructuring; or in the sixth year, meaning they must implement restructuring, the center said.

The center found that 73 percent of those facing restructuring, mostly in Baltimore or Prince George's County, chose minimal interventions. In Prince George's, which borders Washington, restructuring meant that "administrators were just given another duty, to be called a turnaround coach, and they went into a building maybe once or twice a week and spent a couple hours there," Jennings said.

"But that doesn't do the trick. That's just checking off a box, saying you've done something."

The center earlier produced reports on two other states, California and Michigan, which also began to compile test data ahead of the law's mandates. Most schools facing restructuring in those states also chose the least aggressive versions, it said.

The U.S. Education Department, in a guidance letter issued in July, said restructuring should mean "intensive and far-reaching interventions to revamp completely the operation and governance of that school."

The choices should include such actions as replacing most or all staff, or turning control over to the state or private management such as a charter school, the department said.

Maryland's state superintendent of schools, Nancy Grasmick, said that while she supports No Child Left Behind, the reaction to it by schools is predictable.

"It's probably human nature they'll choose the least intrusive and dramatic option, when they already are suffering from public-relations problems related to these schools being low-performing," Grasmick said.