It’s report card time for Alabama schools, except that it’s the schools themselves being graded.

The Alabama Department of Education released its Adequate Yearly Progress reports for the 2009-10 school year, and six local schools failed to make one or more of their goals for the year.

Of those six, all but one missed because of proficiency involving disadvantaged students of some sort, either in special education or those who receive free or reduced-price meals. Only Fultondale High School missed a major measurement; their graduation rate of 65 percent was well below the goal of 90 percent.

Fultondale High is the only school that is under a school improvement plan because of similar missed goals from the 2008-09 school year.

Other schools that missed AYP goals for the previous year:

Gardendale High: Both reading and math proficiency among students receiving free or reduced-price meals.

North Jefferson Middle: Reading proficiency among special-education students.

Hayden Middle: Math proficiency among special-education students.

Funtondale Elementary: Math proficiency among special-education students.

Corner School: Math proficiency among special-education students. (The report for Corner was not broken down between elementary, middle and high school grades).

The annual reports are required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The reports assess major measures such as graduation rates for high schools and attendance rates for lower schools, but also break down participation and proficiency in bth math and reading skills for several different groups, many along racial lines. Some ethnic groups have no students in most area schools, such as Asian/Pacific Islanders or American Indian/Alaskan Natives. Several schools have no black or Hispanic students. Such schools were not penalized by their lack of such groups.

Failure to meet any one specific goal means the school fails entirely.

The results for each school can be found online at the state department of education’s website.

Ben Montgomery has a full report, including comments from school officials, in Wednesday’s edition of The North Jefferson News.