RALEIGH, N.C. — The

No Child Left Behind

standard requires most students in all categories to be at grade level. Last year, less than half of the state's public schools met the standard. Of those schools, 490 will face consequences for missing the mark again this year.

Vass-Lakeview Elementary School is one of the schools that receives Title I federal funding. The school missed in the area of learning disabilities last year, so Rhonda Bullock took her fourth- and fifth-graders in that category and started a celebrity reading program to boost scores.

"We've had Miss North Carolina. We had an advocate for the Governor's Office," she said.

Another "celebrity" who has taken part in the reading program is school principal George Hancock. He said he knows the yearly test is right around the corner.

"It can be a frustrating time of year because of all the anxiety," he said.

Regardless of other awards, if a Title I school does not meet the "No Child Left Behind" standard two years in a row, it faces sanctions like allowing students to transfer to other schools. Those sanctions have officials at the state level worried about many schools across North Carolina.

"That being the case, we're hopeful that parents aren't going to elect to move in mass numbers," state superintendent Mike Ward.

Ward and the state Board of Education recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to push for a change in the legislation.

The penalties of No Child Left Behind could really threaten the balance of Wake County's reassignment plan. Nineteen elementary schools that receive Title I funding did not make the standard last year. If they miss again, students can get a transfer.