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The Iowa Department of Education reports that a record number of Iowa schools are failing to meet the standards of federal No Child Left Behind legislation. In the area of reading proficiency, Knoxville high school is still on the federal watch list, although the last year saw significant improvement in scores. Knoxville school’s superintendent Randy Flack says the high school did show improvement of more that 9%, but did not meet the federal standard. Overall, Flack says the improved numbers show a consistent effort by faculty and staff to raise tests scores. Pella School’s Superintendent Mark Wittmer says although the district is meeting federal requirements, the expectation of student proficiency continues to become more difficult. Both Flack and Wittmer say it is always the district’s goal for students to be able to perform at the highest level.