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More than half of Hawaii schools have not met the so-called goals required under the federal , the preliminary 2012 released Tuesday show.

State Department of Education officials acknowledged the serious shortcomings but pointed at the positive trajectories. They also said reading too much into the “met” versus “not met” AYP status can paint a false picture of a school.

“The numbers don’t describe the whole story,” Board of Education Chair Don Horner said Tuesday after department officials presented the results. “This is not reflective of the hard work of the thousands of teachers in those schools. We keep moving the goal post at the same time we’re making progress.”

To meet the federal yearly progress requirement, schools must hit all targets in 37 areas (45 for high schools) defined by ethnicity, higher poverty levels, limited English proficiency, special education needs, retention and graduation rates, according to a DOE news release. Sanctions are imposed on schools unable to attain all AYP targets for two consecutive years within the same subject or indicator areas.

In the 2010-11 school year, 59 percent of Hawaii’s 286 schools had not met AYP. Last school year this fell to 53 percent. Meanwhile, the number of sanctioned schools inched up from 50 percent to 51 percent.

There were incremental gains in the number of students who were proficient in reading and math, the two subjects used to determine AYP along with participation rates. In reading, 71 percent of students tested proficient in 2012, which has steadily risen from 60 percent in 2007. In math, 60 percent of students were proficient in 2012, up from 39 percent in 2007.

“There’s much more to school than just reading and math, but these are two strong indicators of the level of proficiency that kids need to be college and career ready,” Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe said, adding that some 20 percent of schools missed AYP goals by only one or two benchmarks. “We’re not there yet but this trend is really encouraging.”

But not all the trends were positive.

While science isn’t an AYP indicator, teachers still test kids on it as part of the Hawaii Statewide Assessment program.

Only 22 percent of sophomores were proficient in science in 2012, the same as last year. By comparison, 45 percent of fourth-graders were proficient last school year, up from 43 percent in 2011. Students in both grades are below 2010 levels when 27 percent of sophomores and 49 percent of fourth-grade students were proficient.

The low science scores reflect the emphasis the district has placed on reading and math due to NCLB testing requirements, Nozoe said.

“We’ve got work to do, no doubt,” Nozoe said in an interview Monday. “Science is one of those areas that everybody knows is really important but we spend a lot of time focusing on moving the needle on reading and math. We’ll turn our focus to science too because a lot of the careers in the 21st century are science and technology related.”

The department will look at the data and consider strategies to improve the scores, he added.

Only two complexes had all their schools meet AYP requirements — Waialua in northern Oahu and Kau on the south side of the Big Island. They are comparatively small complexes, with only five schools between them.

Three complexes had no schools meet AYP. These included the single-school complexes of Hana and Lanai in Maui County, and the six-school complex of Waianae in western Oahu. (For a complete list of schools, see the attached document at the end of this story.)

While Hawaii continues to lag behind the national average in the , the district is for an . More than half of all states in the country have already secured this flexibility and nine more plus the District of Columbia are on their applications.

The waiver would allow the district to include a wider set of data to measure student progress, Nozoe said, adding that this flexibility is not a free pass.

“We like the direction of focusing on the whole child,” he said. “But in this current HSA environment it’s kind of hard to measure the whole child when you’re assessing reading and math, which is required by law. We make the best of it.”

President Obama opened the door to waivers in 2011 because Congress is four years late in fixing NCLB. In exchange for the flexibility, the states have to set alternate goals for student achievement based on college- and career-readiness and meet other conditions.

Hawaii will submit its application in September, which would apply to the 2012-13 school year, DOE spokesman Alex Da Silva said.

Nozoe said the department is pleased with its overall progress on the AYP front. He noted that 6,000 more Hawaii students tested proficient in reading and math, and 17 schools moved into good standing status under NCLB after making AYP two years in a row.

“We’ll take a moment to enjoy the excitement and then we’ll roll up our sleeves and get back to work for next year,” he said.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie also touted the encouraging trends.

“The rise in scores is a testament to the commitment and professionalism of school teachers, members of the Board of Education and the Department of Education. This is a collaborative effort in fulfilling the path towards student achievement,” he said in a statement. “We asked for the opportunity to demonstrate what could be done. These scores provide an excellent snapshot of the positive results taking place in the classroom.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement Tuesday that Hawaii’s results reflected the state’s reform efforts that are key to keeping what’s left of $75 million in federal grant money.

“Student performance data released today signal an encouraging sign that more than ever before, Hawaii is focused on efforts to support classroom instruction and student learning,” he said. “Despite challenges and setbacks in meeting Race to the Top goals, Hawaii has maintained a relentless commitment to moving forward. Their continued commitment to do what is best for students and staff will be critical to putting in place progressive reforms through Race to the Top.”

These charts compiled by the DOE present more information about the preliminary AYP results:

Here’s a DOE list, organized by complex area, that shows each school’s AYP results and status:

The department gave this presentation on the Hawaii statewide assessment results to the Board of Education Tuesday: