CEDAR FALLS - Three Cedar Falls schools fell short of state achievement goals along with the district as a whole.

Cedar Falls High and both junior highs will be identified on the 2009-10 statewide list of schools in need of assistance, said Dan Conrad, the district's secondary education director. It is Peet Junior High's first time on the list. The district also is being named as "in need of assistance" for the first time.

The schools made the list by failing to meet state adequate yearly progress goals for at least two years in reading or math, as required in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Progress is measured by growth in proficiency levels in third through eighth grades on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and in 11th grade on the Iowa Tests of Educational Development.

"There's really no sanctions that the school district will receive, because neither our high school nor our junior highs are Title I schools," said Conrad. Title I schools that are in need of assistance go through a state-supported improvement planning process. Such schools also may have to provide supplemental support for struggling students and offer transfer options.

Still, the district faces some state requirements for not meeting the goals. Conrad said the district must develop a plan to more effectively deal with the struggling students. It also must set aside 10 percent of its Title I dollars for professional development focused on those students.

Conrad said the district will "look at some additional supports for students - especially the special needs students, which is the one subgroup that we're consistently struggling to meet AYP (adequate yearly progress)" with. "This is the first time as a district that we have been identified, and so it kicks things up a little higher because of that."

The district made the list because there is at least one subgroup of students each in third through sixth, seventh through ninth and 11th grades that fell short of progress goals for reading. Students are divided into subgroups based on ethnicity, family income level, and designations of special needs and English language learners. For a subgroup to be counted in terms of progress goals, it has to include at least 30 students.

Although no individual elementary school with enough students in a subgroup fell short of the goals, the district did when all elementaries were considered. Conrad said it was "our special needs students that missed AYP in both reading and math."

Holmes Junior High fell short of progress goals in reading and math for special needs students. Peet Junior High fell short of progress goals in reading for special needs students. The high school fell short of progress goals in reading for special needs and low-income students as well as math for special needs students.

Conrad called it an "uphill battle" to bring up achievement for special needs students to the same level as other children. In some cases it is "not realistic," he said. Being named to the list, though, "does make us focus a little bit more on the needs of those students and provide some additional supports to meet their needs."