GARY | The Gary Community School Corp. has won a battle with the Indiana Department of Education, earning it an adequate yearly progress designation for the second consecutive year in 2007-08.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools across the country show improvement in all 37 subgroups including things like race/ethnicity, economic background, limited English proficiency and special education.

If any one area does not improve, the school district is labeled as failing to meet AYP. For Title I schools, failing adequate yearly progress could lead to sanctions against the school.

While the Gary district as a whole earned the designation, many of its schools did not earn it individually.

Gary school spokesperson Sarita Stevens said because of the district's accomplishment, it no longer faces the possibility of sanctions or the loss of Title I staff or Title I funding restrictions.

Superintendent Mary Steele-Agee said the district is experiencing enough significant gains in the areas of English/language arts and mathematics to say "congratulations to our students, parents, administrators, teachers, faculty and staff" for qualifying again in the 2007-08 school year.

But the process was not without some pain.

The designation was granted earlier this month. It was delayed by a discrepancy in the test scores of nine special needs students, Steele-Agee said.

"These students were given the ISTAR assessment exam according to their Individual Education Plan," she said. "A decision was made at the state level to disqualify the scores because the state determined that these special needs students scored too high. As a result, we came up short in participation."

ISTAR is not a test students take, but is instead a Web-based teacher rating instrument used to measure students' progress. Students who participate in ISTAR instead of ISTEP-Plus are not expected to receive a high school diploma in Indiana.

The appeal process began in April, Steele-Agee said, adding the case has lagged for months.

Indiana Department of Education spokesman Avon Waters said the district challenged the case and Gary school officials provided documentation. He said the issues were resolved and IDOE's assessment staff issued a letter earlier this week stating the scores were certified as passing ISTAR.

Gary schools first earned adequate yearly progress in the 2006-07 school year.