Like many other Oregon school districts, Greater Albany Public Schools now is on notice to bring up math scores among children for whom English is a second language.

Assistant Superintendent Steve Kunke told the school board Monday that the district is "in sanctions." That means that it must set aside 10 percent of its Title I funding - money used to improve the academic achievement of the disadvantaged - for staff development to help the staff help students in the area where they are not meeting the requirements.

English language learning (ELL) students, district wide, did not meet the math requirements at the elementary, middle or high school levels for the adequate yearly progress report.

At least 59 percent of ELL students needed to meet the math standards in the 2008-09 school year, according to the Department of Education, or scores must show a 5.8 percent gain for elementary students, 6.81 percent gain for middle-schoolers, and 6.5 percent gain at the high school level in students meeting the standards from the 2007-08 school year.

These yearly standards were set under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

According to the progress report, at the elementary level, 42.96 percent of ELL students passed the standardized test, with a 2.07 percent increase. At the middle school level, 31.35 percent passed with a 1.15 percent decrease, and at the high school level 28.57 percent passed with a 12.27 percent decrease.

Each year students are given a standardized test to evaluate progress in math and reading/language arts. The tests are broken down by levels, schools and nine subgroups related to economic, English language and racial backgrounds.

"We are working on improving scores all the time," Kunke said. "Last year both Sunrise and South Shore elementary schools were on the watch list because they did not meet the requirements, but the schools worked hard and pulled their numbers up."

As a first step, 125 teachers spent a day this month working with Kim Sutton, a highly regarded math staff development provider, on planning instruction for students of all ability levels, energizing their math instruction and learning easy-to-implement instructional strategies.

According to Kunke, if the district does not meet the requirements next year it will again have to set aside 10 percent of its Title I funding.

Board action

In other business Monday, the Albany School Board:

* Voted unanimously to confirm the hiring of teacher Vicki Gregory at Tangent Elementary, and music teacher John Kluttz at Calapooia Middle School.

* Voted unanimously to lease-to-own two 2010 Type D Bluebird All American rear engine buses from Western Bus Sales in Boring at the cost of $139,995 per bus with 4.64 percent interest.

* Learned that Timber Ridge School had been turned over to the district and Timber Ridge Road had been paved. The road became usable today.

* Learned that the new parking lot at West Albany High was going to be $210,000 over budget because the sub-base was more unstable than anticipated. Paving is complete on the north, south and west lots. The landscaping on Queen Avenue is complete.