WINDSOR - Eighth-grader John Craig doesn't mind taking two reading classes, not even on days when he's confronted with two different sets of vocabulary words.

"I kind of like it," he said. "I used to not like reading as much, but I'm getting into it this year because I like writing stories."

John, 14, is one of seven eighth-graders at Windsor Junior/Senior High School enrolled in the extra class because he did not meet state learning goals in reading when he took the Illinois Standards Achievement Test as a seventh-grader.

The concept was so successful last year, with all eight students in the class passing reading when they took the test in March and the class reading percentage rising from 62.8 percent to 87.8 percent, Principal Erik Van Hoveln is trying out an extra math class this year for freshmen who did not meet math standards as eighth-graders.

"If students are not doing well in reading, they cannot succeed in their other subjects," Van Hoveln said. "We really try to push reading across our curriculum."

Because of this and the inclusion of higher-performing seventh- and eighth-graders in the same school as high school juniors, Windsor's name appeared on a dramatically smaller list of area high schools that made adequate yearly progress according to 2008 achievement test results released today by the Illinois State Board of Education.

More than half of the 43 high schools in the Herald & Review's circulation area failed to do so.

The failure was caused by the ever-rising targets of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which in 2008 required that 62.5 percent of students meet learning goals in reading and math, coupled with flat math performance and a decline in reading performance at the high school level across Illinois.

State Superintendent Christopher A. Koch said achieving academic improvement at that level would become a priority for the state board of education, with test benchmarks to come under review as part of the state's participation in the American Diploma Project.

The target is 70 percent for 2009 and will reach 100 percent by 2014.

Federal law requires not only that a certain percentage of students at each school and district meet learning goals but also that certain subgroups of students numbering 45 or more do so as well. These subgroups include white, black, Hispanic, special education and low-income students.

As a result, math continued to be the weakest subject for area high schools, but reading also tripped up an increasing number. Of the 25 failing high schools, 13 fell short in math, eight failed both subjects and four failed in reading.

Those that failed math (with the failing percentages in parentheses) were Arthur (44.1 percent), Atwood-Hammond (33.3 percent), Cerro Gordo (31.7 percent), Cowden-Herrick (44.4 percent), DeLand-Weldon (36.4 percent), Lovington (34.5 percent), Mattoon (47.5 percent overall, 58.3 percent for whites), Mount Pulaski (42.9 percent, Okaw Valley (43.8 percent), Tuscola (49.2 percent overall, 50 percent for whites), Sangamon Valley (50.9 percent), Shelbyville (54.5 percent) and Sullivan (50 percent overall, 48.8 percent for whites).

Those failing both subjects were Arcola (50.9 percent reading and math for Hispanic students), Argenta-Oreana (52.1 percent reading, 49.3 percent math, 50 percent math for whites), Clinton (52.8 percent reading, 55.6 percent math), Brownstown (44.1 percent reading, 47.1 percent math), Decatur Eisenhower (32 percent reading, 24.6 percent math, 42.4 reading and 31.7 math for whites, 14.5 percent reading and 13.3 percent math for blacks, 19.5 percent reading and 16.1 percent math for low-income students), Decatur MacArthur (44.5 percent reading, 47.6 percent math, 21.7 percent reading for blacks), Taylorville (56.5 percent reading, 45.6 percent reading and 35.1 percent math for low-income students) and Vandalia (53.3 percent reading, 50.4 percent math, 55.5 percent math for whites, 28.9 percent reading and 28.9 percent math for low-income students).

Those failing reading were Bement (47.4 percent), Pana (51.7 percent), St. Elmo (36 percent) and Teutopolis (50 percent overall and 50 percent for whites).

The biggest shock on the list is the appearance of Teutopolis High School, which ranked among the highest-achieving high schools in the region in five of the past six years.

Principal Greg Beck said reading has historically been the school's weakest area, but he doesn't understand why the performance of juniors taking the Prairie State Achievement Exam has fluctuated over the years while their composite score on the ACT - which is a portion of the Prairie State exam - has remained fairly constant.

"We're trying to incorporate more PSAE-style writing and reading across our curriculum," Beck said. "We've also entertained the idea of hiring a reading specialist to work with students who need extra help."

The news on high schools was not all bad, however.

Ramsey High School came off the list of schools needing improvement for making adequate progress for two consecutive years, while Charleston High School did not advance to further sanctions after making progress in 2005 and 2008 but failing to do so in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Ramsey Principal Nick Casey credited the implementation of a program to prepare students for the Prairie State test they take as juniors for helping the school overcome poor reading performance caused by turnover in the English department.

"We've had three different teachers in upper-level English in the past seven years," he said. "We just haven't had the consistency of instruction that we've had in math."

Other area schools that failed to make adequate yearly progress in 2008 were relatively few and far between, despite the higher target. That happened because performance on the test grades three through eight are given - the Illinois Standards Achievement Exam - has historically been much higher across Illinois.

They included Vandalia Junior High (27 percent math for special education students), Vandalia Elementary (23.1 percent reading for special education students) schools and Ramsey Elementary (22.4 percent reading and 46.9 percent math for special education students).

Four other Decatur schools also failed to make progress: Stephen Decatur Middle School (25.4 percent reading and 29.6 percent math for special education students and 55.9 percent for low-income students), Brush College School (50 percent reading, 43.9 percent reading for low-income students), Muffley School (53.3 percent reading for low-income students), Parsons School (45.8 percent reading for black students).

The number of area school districts failing to make adequate progress increased, on the other hand, from seven in 2007 to eleven in 2008 primarily because of the reading performance of special education students.

The list (with special education percentages given unless otherwise noted) includes Arcola (53.3 percent reading for Hispanic students, 52.8 percent reading for low-income students), Argenta-Oreana (35.6 percent reading), Altamont (39.2 percent reading), Cowden-Herrick (41.8 percent reading), Decatur (42.5 percent math for special education students, 58.6 percent math for black students), Meridian (40.4 percent reading), Pana (34.1 percent reading) Ramsey (21.6 percent reading, 45.1 percent math) St. Elmo (29.8 reading and math), Vandalia (22.2 percent reading, 34.1 percent math) and Warrensburg-Latham (42.1 percent reading, 45.6 percent math).

Even the McLean County School District in Normal - a larger district like Decatur that usually makes adequate yearly progress - failed to make it in 2008 with just 53.8 percent of its special education students meeting state learning goals in reading.

Schools and districts that do not make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years in the same subject area must prepare improvement plans showing how deficiencies will be corrected, with Illinois requiring implementation of a restructuring plan after four years of failure. Schools and districts receiving federal Title I funds, however, are subject to additional sanctions, such as offering parents the option of sending their children to another school and providing free supplemental tutoring.

Those failing to make progress for at least two years are Arcola, Decatur, Ramsey, St. Elmo and Vandalia school districts; Atwood-Hammond, Clinton, Decatur Eisenhower, Decatur MacArthur, DeLand-Weldon, Okaw Valley, Pana, Sangamon Valley and Taylorville high schools; Vandalia Junior High and Stephen Decatur Middle School; and Ramsey Elementary School.

Those facing restructuring are the two Decatur high schools and Stephen Decatur Middle School, with Thomas Jefferson Middle School not advancing to further sanctions because it made adequate progress in 2008.

The Decatur School District, meanwhile, must continue to offer school choice, tutoring and must align the curriculum to the state learning standards.

Vandalia Junior High, having failed three consecutive years, must offer tutoring as well as choice.

Vandalia Superintendent Rich Well said choice is not really an option for parents of junior high or high school students because the district has only one school at each level and neighboring districts have not agreed to waive out-of-district tuition for Vandalia students.

Well also expressed the frustration of many educators trying to improve the test performance of special education students, who are often not allowed the same supports they receive throughout the school year. He added that the district is working a representative of the regional office of education to develop strategies for special education instruction at the junior high.

Ramsey Elementary, having failed two consecutive years, must offer choice.

Also still needing improvement but not advancing to further sanctions because they made adequate progress in 2008 were the Lincoln Elementary District and Lincoln Elementary School.

As a small school district with fewer than 400 students, Windsor doesn't have as many student subgroups measured under No Child Left Behind as larger districts, but Superintendent Sharon Keck said more instruction of special education students is being delivered in the regular classroom to boost their test performance.

Other changes designed to improve achievement include hiring a social worker for the district last year. "In this day and age, students have a lot of needs," Keck said. "We can't expect teachers to meet all those needs."

Windsor had the distinction of being the area school district showing the most improvement on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test in 2008.

Junior/Senior High Principal Erik Van Hoveln said it's harder to get high school students to do their best on achievement testing but he's trying some incentives such as exempting first-semester seniors from finals if they met or exceeded all goals on the Prairie State Achievement Exam the previous year.

Those seniors will also wear special white cords when they graduate and divide $300 worth of gift cards during a drawing that will take place in front of the juniors right before they take the test this spring.

Van Hoveln had the first gift-card drawing last spring, which may have helped raise the school's test performance from 40.6 percent in 2007 to 54 percent in 2008.

"You can still buffalo junior high kids," he said, "but that doesn't work with high school juniors."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today's "Grading Our Schools" report explores how Central Illinois schools did on 2008 achievement testing. Because Decatur released its results early, a more detailed report on the city's schools was published Oct. 5.

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