Designation as a failing school triggers a range of actions schools must take under the federal act. Schools that fail to make adequate progress are required to come up with their own improvement plan. If schools continue to fail over a period of years, a state must require a thorough overhaul.

Gary Heath, the state's head of testing, said special education was the most problematic category. For example, in Montgomery County, special education students did not achieve adequate yearly progress in 19 schools, but 90 percent of the district's schools hit the target this year, compared with 75 percent last year.

Go to baltimoresun.com/stateschools and read a preliminary list of Maryland public schools that are in danger of not meeting or have failed to meet adequate yearly progress targets. Also, see the list of 25 schools that have improved and are no longer in the state's rigorous improvement program.