Under the 'No Child' Microscope

Last month, the center reported that nearly 3,600 schools were preparing or implementing restructuring plans during the 2007-08 school year, up 56 percent from the year before. The study also found that few schools at that stage of sanctions are able to reach the benchmark required to escape restructuring: two straight years of adequate progress on test scores.

"The whole thing has to be rethought," Jennings said. "I think one of the good things about No Child Left Behind is that it has directed attention to schools that have been in trouble for years. That doesn't mean it does it the right way."

More than three-fifths of Hoffman-Boston's students come from families poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. About 43 percent are black, 30 percent Hispanic, 20 percent Asian American and 7 percent white.

Scores on Virginia's Standards of Learning tests last spring were good enough to earn state accreditation and showed gains among most students, including Hispanics, those identified as economically disadvantaged and those with limited English proficiency. But scores for black students remained stagnant, falling short of the target pass rates (75 percent for math and 77 percent for reading). Their rates were 70 percent in math, up one point from last year, and 66 percent in reading, the same as last year.

Dangerfield said the school is examining how to lift black student performance while maintaining the progress of others.

"The question then becomes, what is happening with this one group, or what is not happening?" Dangerfield said. "How come these children are not progressing at the same rate? They are here in the same school. They are in the same classes. What's happening?"

The school is not short of resources. Arlington boasts some of the smallest class sizes in the region, one computer for every five students and high schools that consistently rank among the nation's best. Hoffman-Boston even has a television studio in which students produce morning newscasts.

Teachers are pushing hard.

At lunchtime, school math coach Sara Minervino reminds fourth- and fifth-graders to wipe the day's menu from their hands before attempting to answer problems on the electronic whiteboard. She launched the lunchtime group "Magnificent Mathematicians" after realizing that it was hard to get students to stay after school.

"They love it," Minervino said. "They are so excited."

Minervino sees progress all the time. One boy who failed the math test in third grade, she recalled, entered fourth grade doubting his skills. But he scored high on the last round of tests.

"If you took him aside this year, he would think he was this amazing math student," Minervino said. "When you are in the inside, you know you are doing the right things and they are learning."