The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools should be graded annually through AYP. This year, 51 school systems and 341 Alabama schools failed to meet these federal standards. Administrators say that the Act's 100 percent compliance rule, and changes to special education requirements, are to blame.

"Where else could you reach 95 percent of your goals and still fail? Only in America," remarks Superintendent Tim Pitchford.

The list is out and many Wiregrass schools once again fail to meet AYP standards. Although improvement has been made in certain areas including reading, math and graduation rates, it still is not good enough.

“At Dothan High School we had a proficiency issue for all students - black students and poverty students - in reading. Math was fine and also for the graduation rate," says Dr. Sam Nichols, Superintendent of Dothan Schools.

Nichols also says that Northview High met AYP standards in reading and math, but failed to improve upon last year's graduation rate. AYP requires 100 percent compliance with all three components; something that many superintendents find unfair.

"They're not failing in many cases. In many cases they are showing improvement. They are showing progress. They just did not meet an ever-changing [and] increasing requirement," says Dr. Joe Morton, State Superintendent of Education.

One requirement change was the removal of a two percent curve allotted to schools for special education, on top of rising standards.

"In years past, we had two percent flexibility for kids in our system that were identified in our system as special education. It gave a two percent range of flexibility. This year we did not have that. With every year the standards increase. In this past year the standards increased a good bit, and it’s caught a lot of schools and school systems in this state," says Pitchford.

Northview is currently in its third year of school improvement, and Dothan High School is in its fifth year. Over all the AYP passage rate dropped from 86 percent in 2009 to 75 percent for 2010.

The list of area schools not making AYP is extensive. If you would like to see a complete list of school standings, visit the "For more Information" page on our web channel at WTVY.com.