Nearly 1,100 schools across Washington are failing to meet federal achievement goals, casting them into the category of needing improvement, preliminary figures released Friday show.

The fast-rising number of schools on the federal fix-it list is reflected in Pierce County’s two largest districts. Tacoma schools on the list increased from 24 to 36 this year. The number of Puyallup schools jumped from seven to 18.

In fact, nearly every school district in Pierce County and most around South Sound also are now in “improvement status” under federal rules requiring adequate yearly progress, or AYP.

Results from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning released Friday show 1,073 of the state’s 2,121 schools didn’t meet federal standards for at least the second consecutive year.

While the number of failing schools soared from 618 last year, WASL scores were flat for the third consecutive year, state schools chief Randy Dorn said.

He blasted the federal No Child Left Behind Act, criticizing the law and its goals as unfair and unrealistic.

“The federal government is actually failing us,” Dorn said. “We begin to doubt whether we’re making the improvements that we have.”

As the federal standards ramp up to 100-percent passing scores by 2014, Dorn said “literally every school in our state will eventually be in an improvement or in a failing status.”

Results were mixed from this year’s WASL tests taken by third- through eighth-graders and 10th-graders. Scores increased in seven subject areas, decreased in seven and stayed virtually the same in the remaining six.

Math continued to be a cause for worry, as the percentage of 10th-graders passing the math section dropped by 4.1 percentage points.

Mary Jean Ryan, chairwoman of the Washington State Board of Education, called the WASL and AYP results “sobering.”

“We need renewed focus on moving student achievement to much higher levels,” Ryan said in a statement. “Math and science are particularly challenging. No one should rest easy after reading these statewide results.”

She said the state needs to seek federal funds to improve math and science curricula and instruction.

Dorn, the superintendent of public instruction, said he hopes No Child Left Behind will be revised. Students aren’t getting the resources to meet federal standards, he said.

Improving math scores is Dorn’s biggest concern.

“In reading and writing we have been able to decide and agree to standards,” Dorn said. “In math we’re still having struggles on narrowing it down.”

The Legislature approved spending $4.4 million for testing students throughout the school year in reading and math. That program, starting in fall 2010, will help teachers discover math areas where students are succeeding and struggling so they can adjust their focus accordingly, Dorn said.

Schools and school districts have wound up on the federal improvement list because of poor showings on the WASL for reading and math, as well as other reasons such as deficient graduation and attendance rates.

In Pierce County, the list of schools failing to make AYP includes: Bethel, Clover Park, Eatonville, Fife, Franklin Pierce, Orting, Puyallup, Sumner, Tacoma, University Place, White River and Yelm. Because they failed for at least the second consecutive year, they were placed on the “needs improvement” list.

Peninsula and Steilacoom are the only K-12 districts in Pierce County not relegated to the improvement list, although both also failed to make AYP for 2009.

Small districts without high schools – locally that means Dieringer and Carbonado – don’t show up on the list. That’s because AYP is calculated only for districts and schools with students in fourth-, seventh- and 10th-grades.

In Tacoma, deputy superintendent Carla Santorno said the district is seeking individualized measures to improve schools that are failing to meet AYP.

“Sometimes, sanctions allow for the moving of a principal or redesigning how people apply for schools,” she said. “We’ll look at where a school’s problems have been, and we’ll use a remedy accordingly.”

Jay Reifel, Puyallup assistant superintendent for student learning, said his district will phase in curriculum changes for elementary and high school classes. Budget cuts this year forced the district to eliminate positions for 28 instructional coaches, who trained new teachers and made sure the curricula aligned with state standards.

Despite their complaints about federal education rules, district leaders say they’re running hard to comply with them.

“We’re not trying to shirk any accountability,” Franklin Pierce School District Superintendent Frank Hewins said. “Nobody’s taking this stuff for granted, and everybody’s taking this stuff very personally as far as getting our kids to meet standard.”

But as far as No Child Left Behind goes, “the odds are stacked against any district that has substantial size and significant diversity,” he added.

And in the late summer of 2009, everything is more difficult, he added.

“It’s an environment where we’re going to have to do more with less.”

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647 steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com

Staff writers Joyce Chen and Kris Sherman contributed to this report.