Standards toughen, schools work harder to comply

While students, teachers and other school staff have been preparing for the next school year, the Montana Office of Public Instruction has been looking at how last year went.

Earlier this month, OPI released the Adequate Yearly Progress of Montana schools for the 2011-2012 school year. And while scores have continued to improve, they have failed to keep pace required by the No Child Left Behind Act a decade ago.

Among the 820 schools tested — including half of Montana's nearly 140,000 students — 74 percent did well enough, or "made AYP. "

AYP was a term that came out of NCLB in 2002, when the...