Only 22 of Wake County's 163 schools reached proficiency standards under the federal "No Child Left Behind" law in the 2010-11 school year, according to preliminary state statistics.

Eighteen elementary schools and one middle school, Wakefield, met the standard, which is periodically set higher, with sanctions for schools with subpar performance. The only high schools to meet the goals were East Wake School of Health Science, East Wake School of Engineering Systems and the Wake Early High School of Health and Sciences.

"NCLB holds us accountable for every student, and our goal is that all students are successful," said Wake Superintendent Tony Tata. "We will add the data from this report to the achievement audit received last month from the Harvard Center for Education Policy Research to help us move faster and smarter to increase achievement for all of our students. We know we have work to do."

Under the federal program, schools' progress is measured by the academic gains of as many as nine subgroups, dividing the school population by ethnic background, disability, English proficiency and other traits. If one group fails to reach what's called "adequate yearly progress," the entire school fails.

"No Child Left Behind is designed so that schools that miss their AYP target with only one group of their students are considered to have missed the AYP target overall," State Superintendent June Atkinson said. "This 'all or nothing' structure of the federal law guarantees that we will see an increasing number of schools missing the elusive 'Met AYP' designation."

Tata had predicted a drop in Wake schools' making adequate progress but noted a rising graduation rate.

For schools with grades three through eight to meet targets, the percentage of students proficient in math had to rise from 77.2 percent to 88.6 percent, and the percentage of students proficient in reading had to improve from 43.2 percent to 71.6 percent. The performance of individual subgroups was not released but will be presented Aug. 4 to the State Board of Education.

Schools that receive federal Title I funding for low-income children and fail to meet adequate yearly progress standards for two years in a row face a variety of sanctions, including having to offer tutoring services, giving students a chance to leave for a better school and restructuring a school.