The Pittsburgh Public Schools missed the federal achievement benchmark for a sixth year, based on test data released yesterday, but Superintendent Mark Roosevelt called the district's situation better than it appeared.

School districts must meet the federal standard, called "adequate yearly progress" or AYP, largely based on reading and math scores on the state standardized tests. The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment is given to students in grade 11 and grades 3 through 8, with districts and schools this year striving for at least 63 percent proficiency in reading and 56 percent proficiency in math.

Besides overall proficiency, districts and schools are measured on the performance of certain student groups, such as minority children, poor children and children in special education. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, districts are to have 100 percent reading and math proficiency by 2014.

Because of low overall scores, the district remains in "corrective action II," the lowest NCLB level. Individually, 34 schools missed AYP; 25 made AYP, most with the help of statistical allowances.

One of eight accelerated learning academies, Northview PreK-5, made AYP. No academies made AYP last year, their first year of operation.

Three of 10 schools Mr. Roosevelt expanded two years ago to take in middle-grade students -- Brookline K-8, Manchester PreK-8 and Vann PreK-8 in the Hill District -- made AYP this year. Only one of the schools, Westwood K-8, made AYP last year.

Two of 10 high schools -- the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Downtown, and Westinghouse High School, Homewood -- made AYP.

Mr. Roosevelt released preliminary scores last month, saying the district made gains, sometimes sizable, in reading and math in nearly every grade.

He continued to highlight the positive yesterday, noting the district's gains the past several years outpaced the state's. He also noted that 10 schools missed AYP because of a shortfall involving a single student group.

"We have some schools that didn't make AYP that had a wonderful year," Mr. Roosevelt said. He said the district made progress even though the 2008 proficiency targets for reading and math are 9 percentage points and 11 percentage points higher, respectively, than last year.

Four schools -- Dilworth PreK-5, East Liberty; Linden K-5, Point Breeze; the arts high school; and Rogers 6-8, Garfield -- made AYP by meeting or exceeding the proficiency targets in math and reading.

The 21 other schools that made AYP did so by other means.

Some made AYP because their proficiency numbers, close to targets, could have been affected by calculation errors. Others made AYP because they reduced by at least 10 percent the students not proficient in the prior year.

Westinghouse made AYP with the 10 percent rule. Its overall proficiency rates were 39.3 percent in reading, 17.3 percentage points over last year, and 29.8 percent in math, 16.4 percentage points over last year.

Mr. Roosevelt said AYP is "not a very accurate reflection of the district's overall progress." He said urban districts have a more difficult time making AYP than a suburban district because they're more diverse and therefore accountable for the performance of more student groups.

Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka said the data show there's "a great deal of work yet to be done but also indicate there's very good work being done to improve scores."

For the district overall, reading was a sore spot.

Only 53.8 percent of students in grades 3 through 5 and 50.7 percent of students in grade 11 scored proficient or advanced in reading. The district also missed targets for black children, poor children and those in special education.

In grades 6 through 8, 55.6 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in reading. The district was considered to have met the proficiency target because of improvement over last year and allowance for possible calculation error.

In math, 66.5 percent of students in grades 3 through 5, 57.3 percent of students in grades 6 through 8 and 52.5 percent of 11th-graders scored proficient or advanced. The district hit the targets, with statistical allowances in some cases, for all students except those in special education in grade 11 and grades 6through 8.

Mr. Roosevelt said the district overall came close to meeting AYP because of scores in grades 6 through 8, missing only because the proficiency among students in special education was low.