The majority of students in the Helena School District's two middle schools and two high schools passed the most recent No Child Left Behind Act testing.

But the schools didn't.

Helena Public Schools Superintendent Bruce Messinger said No Child Left Behind divides the student population into 11 groups.

These groups include those students evaluated as economically disadvantaged and as students with special needs.

At least one of those two groups' test scores didn't meet the standards required by No Child Left Behind at the schools, Messinger said.

Standards are the same for all students, regardless of what group identification they may fall under.

The standards are based on the annual math and reading testing, in addition to attendance and graduation rates.

If the students in even one of the 11 identified categories doesn't meet requirements, the whole school, and subsequently the whole district, doesn't pass.

That means that even though all 11 Helena elementary schools passed the fifth annual Adequate Yearly Progress Report, the Helena elementary district failed because of the two middle schools' scores.

The middle schools are included in the elementary district.

If schools and districts do not meet the standards for two consecutive years, they face such consequences as revising their comprehensive education plans, something Messinger said Helena schools do anyway.

This is the second year that Helena's larger schools -- the middle schools and high schools -- didn't meet the requirements, he said.

In order for the scores of any of the 11 identified groups in the student population to potentially determine whether an entire school meets its requirements, that group must include at least 40 students in the school.

That makes smaller schools less likely to have an identified group of students fail.

"What we'll do now -- we'll communicate with parents," Messinger said. "Fundamentally, there are some concerns we have with the federal law.

"A part of that is the way it is so dependent on a few variables. Students can be successful but not on a specific test."

Another possible repercussion under No Child Left Behind is giving students school-choice options, something Helena already offers.

As consequences progress each year the standards aren't met, schools also may be required to offer tutoring services and teacher training.

The goal of No Child Left Behind is for 100 percent of students to meet the standards by 2014.

In Montana, 15 percent of school districts did not meet the federal requirements.

Many of the state's schools do not have enough students to have 40 in the identified groups, unlike the four Helena schools that did not make the cut, Messinger said.

Out of the larger districts in Montana, those in Bozeman are the only ones that met the requirements.

Messinger said Helena schools will not change their curriculum in order to focus more on meeting the federal reading and math requirements.

"We are always working to improve education. If the law ended tomorrow, we would still do the same things," he said.