How can a school be distinguished in Washington state and still be found wanting under national standards? It was a question that loomed heavy over the September meeting of Sumner’s board of directors as its members listened to the preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress report for 2011. The district continues to try and pull eight of its campuses — and itself — in line with expected standards, even as the bars for reading and math continue to be set higher.

The school in question was Mountainview Middle. Though the campus continues to innovate in technology, pre-programming and engineering courses, it was in Step Four — the second to worst step plan  — under the AYP standard.

“The national standards… just don’t reflect the quality of our schools,” Board Director Mike Pavlik pondered aloud.

The AYP report is the state’s report card to measure school achievement, as dictated by the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind Act. The report measured results taken from the state’s standardized tests, including the Measurements of Student Progress for grades 3-8, the High School Proficiency Exam, and the End-of-Course Assessments, which replaced the mathematics portion of HSPE.

Statewide, 24 percent of districts are meeting AYP. Thirty-six percent of schools meet the standards.

The news wasn’t all bleak for the district: at the elementary level, Crestwood, Donald Eismann, Emerald Hills, Liberty Ridge and Victor Falls met or exceeded standards in both reading and math.

All elementary school campuses met math standards and the number of students meeting standards in math rose 15 percent; a heartening jump over what Research and Assessment Director Susie Lynch last year called a continuing hurdle.

Overall, Sumner School District is in Step One, meaning it is just outside AYP. Step One districts and schools must inform parents they have not met AYP for two consecutive years, develop an improvement plan, and allocate 10 percent of their Title 1 Budget to address professional development needs for teachers.

Eight schools within the district are still not meeting AYP — the same number of campuses as last year, but one fewer than at the time of the 2009 report.

Reading standards rose at test time 2011.

“We will need to determine what we need to do to meet AYP in reading for 2012,” Lynch said.

Math standards will rise in time for this year’s testing.

2014 is the district’s goal year for reaching 100 percent achievement of standards.