P'burg school flunks feds' test Middle school would be facing sanctions if they were permitted. Wednesday, August 23, 2006 • From staff and wire reports • The Express-Times Phillipsburg Middle School failed to meet education standards in math for the fifth consecutive year, but won't face the same consequences as other districts who receive a specific type federal funding. The state Department of Education reported Tuesday that one in four New Jersey public schools again failed to make adequate progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law, leaving more than 50 of them poised for rehabilitation efforts. If Phillipsburg Middle School had received Title I funding, the administration would be forced to look at a restructuring that could have required staffing changes. The federal funding is allocated to counties and school districts to improve achievement among poor and disadvantaged students. "We've been doing quite a few things on the test scores," Superintendent Gordon Pethick said. Pethick called the results complex and said district administration is working on a fix. Phillipsburg High School, Andover-Morris Elementary and Green Street Elementary school also missed federal benchmarks in math and language arts, but are not in jeopardy of facing sanctions. Andover-Morris, though, will be required to offer tutoring in language arts. Across the state, the report found that 574 schools were judged in need of improvement for two or more years, about 23.7 percent of the state's 2,422 public schools. In 2005, 544, or 22.7 percent, were in that category. Overall, 643 schools, or 26.5 percent, did not meet standards in 2006, compared to 822, or 34 percent, last year, the department said. Some schools have closed or merged over the years. Both schools in the Warren Hills Regional School District failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress, a standard of measure under the federal act. The middle school failed to meet the mark for the fourth year in a row; it was the second year in a row for the high school. In both schools, the overall population met the standard, but disabled students did not meet the mark in math at the middle school and both math and language arts at the high school. District officials have been working to improve test scores among the disabled students, but are still awaiting progress, which can take time, Superintendent Peter Merluzzi said. "We're very selective with the staff we place with the subgroup," he said. "We've done a lot of things. Just at this juncture, we haven't met the mark." An administrator has recently been charged with overseeing special education classes and teachers and all curriculums for the self-contained special education classes have been updated, Merluzzi said. The district also has implemented a new computer-based remedial program, which will be supplemental for high school students who performed poorly on standardized tests and a scheduled class for middle school students who performed poorly. The middle school -- facing more serious sanctions than the high school -- also will be subject to a visit from a state team to evaluate its programs, Merluzzi said. Reporters Daniel Hausmann and Lynn Olanoff contributed to this report. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.