Five years after the No Child Left Behind Act first took hold, Milwaukee schools have made marginal progress in meeting the achievement standards set by the law, but are plagued by funding issues and struggling to make gains with some student groups, according to district officials.

Deb Lindsey, director of assessment and accountability for Milwaukee Public Schools, said while the district has seen slight improvement under the act, the gains have fallen short of the progress MPS wants to make.

"There have been some small changes in student achievement in some grade levels and with some student groups, but not as large of changes as we would like, and not with all the student groups," she said.

The act, signed into law in January 2002 as the mainstay of the Bush administration's educational policy, measures gains in standardized math and reading test scores from year to year.

Milwaukee was the only school district in the state that failed to meet the act's yearly progress standards in 2005, according to Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction data. Of the 45 schools in the state that did not meet standards, 38 were in the Milwaukee district.

Lindsey said MPS is focusing its efforts on several schools that were identified at the end of last year as needing improvement.

"What we're doing is working very intensely with a group of lower-performing schools," she said.

Black students and students with disabilities are among the groups struggling to meet achievement standards, she said.

She also said while MPS agrees with the act's focus on accountability and improvement, the district is facing serious funding problems and does not have the resources it needs to adequately bolster school performance.

"There have been a number of studies saying that No Child Left Behind has been underfunded from the beginning," she said.

Robert Lowe, a professor in Marquette's School of Education, said the act has garnered decidedly mixed reviews over the past five years, including questions about what to do with schools that struggle to meet benchmarks.

Lowe said the act underscores shortcomings in student achievement, "but does not necessarily create the wherewithal to solve them."

The act's focus on reading and math has also caused some struggling schools to narrow their curriculum, he said, denying already-unprivileged students opportunities to study history, music, art and science.

Gwen Moore (D), congresswoman for Wisconsin's 4th District, which includes Milwaukee, said in a statement that the act "focuses too much on measuring progress, and not enough on making progress."

Evaluations of academic success should look at the graduation rates, enrollment in Advanced Placement courses and college enrollment, not just standardized test scores, Moore said.

She also said the act had been shortchanged by billions of dollars to date.

"Any renewal should provide full funding for No Child Left Behind Act programs," she said.

Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R), who represents the state's 5th District, could not be reached for comment. Sensenbrenner voted against the act in 2002.

Lowe said despite the act's shortcomings, politicians on both sides are unlikely to abandon it.

"There aren't really many people who would outright abolish it right now," he said.

A report last summer by the Washington, D.C.-based group Education Sector examined how states use technicalities and broad definitions of the act's standards to paint overly-optimistic pictures of their own progress, and labeled Wisconsin as the worst offender in the nation. State officials have strongly disputed the report's claims.