"More than three quarters of the state’s public high schools are meeting new federal standards under the No Child Left Behind Law, state education officials said Wednesday. Of Connecticut’s 180 public high schools, only 42 failed to meet the standard for adequate yearly progress based on standardized test scores. Last year, just 46 percent of state high schools met the federal guidelines."

"‘Connecticut’s high schools should be very proud of the progress made in just one year,’ state Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg said. ‘It shows that our students and educators are working very hard and are serious about raising their achievement.’ Sternberg and others said the key improvement came in participation rates, measured by the number of students taking the Connecticut Academic Performance test."

"No Child Left Behind is the centerpiece of President Bush’s education policy. It requires all students, regardless of background, to perform well on state reading and math tests."