A growing number of schools statewide could face intervention because too few of their students met the reading and math testing goals established under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Locally, with the exception of Castro Valley schools, districts in southern Alameda County and in the Tri-City area failed to meet raised expectations under the 2001 federal education law, which requires all students to be proficient in reading and math — as defined by each state — by 2014.

Just half of California's public schools met the new targets, according to the state Education Department's annual progress report, released Tuesday.

If a school receives federal funding for low-income students and it falls short of its No Child Left Behind testing targets for two straight years, it is placed on a federal watch list known as Program Improvement.

State numbers show 675 new campuses entered Program Improvement this year, more than twice the number of new schools that did so in 2008. On the flip side, just 54 California schools learned they had been taken off the list after hitting their targets for two years in a row.

"We all face a huge challenge meeting the requirement of No Child Left Behind," said Mike Katz, San Leandro school board president. "The curve is so steep and we are taking away resources from schools at the state level. I do not think there is any way all schools can meet those requirements, and San Leandro is

San Leandro as a district entered Program Improvement this year — as did the Newark Unified School District.

Area schools newly placed under Program Improvement this year are Lorenzo Manor Elementary in San Lorenzo, Washington Elementary in San Leandro, Durham Elementary in Fremont and Musick Elementary in Newark.

In Hayward, the district entered Bowman and Eldridge Elementary Schools into Program Improvement this year, raising the total number of district schools under Program Improvement to 16. Hayward Unified has 31 schools.

"We are disappointed," said Dr. Dale Vigil, superintendent for Hayward schools. "We were hoping to do better."

Vigil said a consultant is helping the district look at what it needs to do to get out of Program Improvement.

Increasing instruction time and catered-intervention programs are some of the initiatives Hayward Unified is using this year to help students reach rising federal bench marks.

In addition, the district this year began placing expectations at each of its campuses based on what that individual school must improve.

"We don't want to come back a year from now and say we did not make any progress," Vigil said. "We have to show some significant gains."

State education officials on Tuesday also released the 2009 Academic Performance Index, a single score between 200 and 1,000 for each school and school district.

As of this year, 42 percent of California schools — though just 21 percent of the state's high schools — have achieved an API score of 800 or higher, the state's goal.

Castro Valley continues to solidify itself as a high-performing school district, with all schools scoring in the 800 to 900 mark.

Jensen Ranch Elementary improved last year's results by 16 points and now sports a 992 API score — the highest in the district.

Other area schools that showed significant gains from a year ago include Washington Manor Middle School in San Lorenzo — which raised its score by 56 points to 775 — and Palma Ceia Elementary in Hayward, which increased its API score by 51 points to 772.

James Madison Elementary is a bright spot in San Leandro. The school boosted its score by 38 points from a year ago and now sports a 854 API score — a district high.

In Fremont, 25 of its 28 elementary schools, all five of its junior high schools and two of its five main high schools posted scores of 800 or above. Oliveira and Cabrillo elementary schools were most improved, posting gains of 45 and 41 points, respectively.

Among the high schools, Irvington gained the most ground, with a 38-point improvement, which brought its overall score to 830. Mission San Jose High, with a 17-point gain, reported a score of 948, one of the highest in the state.

Grimmer Elementary, a program improvement school a few years ago, improved 38 points and reached a score of 800 for the first time this year.

In the New Haven school district, four of the district's seven elementary schools as well as Alvarado Middle School had scores of 800 or higher.

View the results at www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ar/index.asp.

Staff writer Ben Aguirre Jr. contributed to this report.