Two-thirds of the District of Columbia's public schools have failed basic federal standards in reading, math and other core educational areas, new data released by the schools Friday showed. Seventy-four of 105 charter and traditional public elementary schools were failing national standards in reading, math or both this year -- 18 more than the year before. High schools did slightly better this year than last; only 47 high schools were on the failing list this year, compared to 49 the year before.

All told, less than 48 percent of elementary schoolchildren and less than 44 percent of high schoolers tested "proficient" in reading; less than 41 percent of elementary and high school children were proficient in math, the data showed.

The testing standards under the No Child Left Behind Act increase each year. The results, published on the Web Friday, were based on federally mandated testing under the law.

Top education officials tried to salvage good news from the results, but acknowledged they face a Herculean task in cleaning up the schools after decades of benign and malignant neglect.

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"There are some individual schools that made some tremendous gains," new schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee told The Examiner in a phone interview. "But we've got to institute some different measures there."

For some parents, the raw numbers were not as troubling as the fact they came out so close to the school year. No Child Left Behind requires that parents whose children are trapped in failing schools can transfer to better schools. The schools used last year's failing schools list in a mailing to parents alerting them to opportunities for transfers. This year, the packet didn't go out until late July -- giving families only a few weeks to organize transfers to better schools.

"The schools should have given parents a lot of warning on this," said Theresa Bollech, a parent-rights activist and the mother of a special-education child. "It only seems like one school year. But when the kids are this young, it's another generation of children that they've lost. I mean, it breaks my heart."

bmyers@dcexaminer.com

The full results of the No Child Left Behind testing can be found by clicking here.