State, feds reach No Child Left Behind deal

HELENA — State and federal education officials have reached a compromise on Montana's No Child Left Behind benchmarks for the 2010-2011 school year.

Monday was the deadline for the state to comply with the law's requirements for determining adequate yearly progress or else risk losing funding.

Under the law's Annual Measurable Objectives, 92 percent of Montana schoolchildren are supposed to be proficient in reading and 84 percent in math.

But the students measured 83 percent proficient in reading and 68 percent in math.

The compromise announced by state education superintendent Denise Juneau Monday puts the state's Annual Measurable Objectives at 84.4 percent in reading and 70 percent in math.

That means 16 public schools did not meet the objectives instead of the 155 schools that fell short of the original goals.