Two area high schools are trying a new approach to bolster test scores for struggling black and Hispanic students by offering them additional assistance programs aimed almost entirely at minorities.

After six straight years on school improvement status, the school made its improvement goals for the second consecutive year and removed itself from the danger list.

St. Charles East and Geneva high schools can empathize with each other after falling short of federal education standards for the first time in years.

Today is graduation day. However, instead of senior high students, this Class of 2007 is the nearly 200 schools across the state moving off the No Child Left Behind Act's improvement list.

Through all the frustrations of No Child Left Behind legislation -- test score ups and downs, failing grades for typically top-notch schools, cries that the expectations are too high and the sanctions too severe -- there has been one enduring and uniting understanding: Every child matters.

From Carpentersville to Huntley, elementary schools exceeded state standards this year while high schools and, to a lesser extent, middle schools struggled to keep up.

Hundreds more students at Elgin Area School District U-46's eight middle schools met state reading and math standards last school year.

For the fifth year in a row, West Aurora High School has failed to meet state testing standards, prompting administrators to begin work on a plan to restructure how the entire school functions.

11th grade math Town: St. Charles

Educators in Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 are hoping a new tool will help turn a failing trend around.

Georgetown Elementary School Town: Aurora

Fire the staff, perhaps even the principal. Reopen as a charter school. Hire a private firm to operate your public school or find another way to otherwise significantly restructure

Chippewa Middle Town: Des Plaines

Winston Campus Junior High Town: Palatine

Don't look at toughening lesson plans if you want to improve student test scores. It's often what goes on outside a classroom that matters, according to several principals who've seen recent success in getting their schools off the state's list of buildings that need improvement.

Stratford Middle Town: Bloomingdale

With more area schools failing to meet standards on state tests this year, educators in the Northwest suburbs are hoping a new tool will turn the trend around.