Beacon Middle School fell from superior last year to academic review this year, missing a superior rating by less than one percentage point. Milton Elementary School also lost its superior rating. High school scores remain the most problematic; the high school rating is academic watch.

Accountability ratings are calculated based primarily on state-testing results, but also on a school’s yearly progress and testing history. Delaware Department of Education released the 2009 ratings Friday, July 31. Statewide, 117 of 195 schools were rated superior or commendable.

Shields and Rehoboth Elementary are rated superior, while H.O. Brittingham Elementary and Mariner Middle Schools are commendable, the second-best rating. Milton Elementary, rated superior the past five years, and Beacon Middle are now rated academic review, the third of seven rating categories.

Beacon Principal Dave Frederick said Beacon has 10 cells of student groups, five each in math and reading. The whole school has to meet state targets, which Beacon did, and each cell has to meet targets as well.

He said in special education math, 57 percent of student scores met requirements, but the state target was 58 percent.

Robert Fulton, district director of secondary education, said Milton Elementary School fell short in the African-American English/language arts cell. Sixty-seven percent of students in that category met the state standard, but the goal was 73.

Milton Elementary’s second-grade math scores were a district-best 98 percent.

Milton Elementary School Principal Kevin Mumford said scores in the school went up in every section besides fourth-grade math and fifth-grade reading. But these overall performance results are not reflected in the rating, he said. Milton’s school-improvement team is meeting to determine how to help low-performing students.

At the high school, 58 percent of students in the low socioeconomic cell met the standard in reading, and 44 met math standards. The goals for those groups were 73 percent in reading and 58 percent in math. Performance at the high school remains the lowest in the district. Less than one-third of African-American students meet the state standard.

Fulton said the district is using a $50,000 school improvement grant for learning-focused teacher training and positive-behavior support systems in the high school, part of efforts to raise the scores there.

Fulton said the district had appealed some ratings.

Each year, the number of students that must meet standards increases. It will reach 100 percent in 2014 as part of No Child Left Behind.