Three public schools have been added to the list of those that successfully met federal No Child Left Behind goals this year, the Department of Education announced yesterday.

Aliamanu Elementary and Maunawili Elementary successfully appealed a preliminary ruling in August that indicated they had not met "adequate yearly progress" based on their spring 2005 Hawai'i State Assessment scores.

The state previously announced that Linapuni Elementary made the cut. Since the school only goes up to second grade and HSA testing does not begin until third grade, the state used a different method to determine the school's status.

Final results show that 97 public schools (34.4 percent) met NCLB goals, while 185 (65.6 percent) did not. Of the schools that missed the targets, 136 are under some degree of sanction under the federal law.

No Child Left Behind requires schools to steadily increase student performance with the goal of all students meeting proficiency in core subjects by 2014. This year, Hawai'i significantly raised its targets from 30 percent to 44 percent proficient in reading and from 10 percent to 28 percent proficient in math.

Schools that miss the targets for more than two consecutive years may face an overhaul by the state DOE or private firms.