This fall, some Oak Harbor elementary schools could be packed while two others could contain half-empty classrooms as a result of federal intervention.

It may be an unlikely scenario, but it worries the Oak Harbor school board and could happen if parents react in panic to recent listings by the federal government.

Every year the U.S. Department of Education releases a list of schools that didn’t meet goals for standardized tests under the No Child Left Behind Act.

It’s called “adequate yearly progress” and this year, Oak Harbor’s test scores landed six schools on the list.

Two of the schools on the list will be facing consequences this year: Crescent Harbor Elementary and Olympic View Elementary.

The two schools failed to meet goals for two years. Because they receive federal funding for low-income students, the government is stepping in.

The school district is now required to give parents an opportunity to transfer their children to another Oak Harbor-based school and provide free transportation. The program is called “school choice” and letters were mailed out to parents last week.

Parents can choose to keep their kids enrolled at their current school, or transfer them to a school that did meet testing targets. These include Broad View Elementary and Oak Harbor Elementary.

The painful part, Superintendent Rick Schulte said, is that most schools failed only because a small number of students didn’t meet the goals.

The evaluation looks at 75 categories, including ethnic groups, low income and limited English speakers.

Last year, low income readers didn’t meet the WASL benchmark, which put Olympic View on the list. However, low income readers made it this year, but special education reading and math did not.

The rest of the school scored well above the state goal.

“In our schools, if you miss in any one area, you aren’t making (adequate yearly progress),” assistant superintendent Lance Gibbon said.

During last week’s school board meeting, Gibbon showed the audience that the federal goals look like a stair-step line. By 2014, the ultimate aim is to have all students statewide passing reading and math.

Olympic View principal Martha Adams said she doesn’t see 2014 as a magic number.

“I look at 2014 as a target year, but it’s what I do every day that makes the growth,” Adams said.

The No Child Left Behind Act has sparked controversy for its ongoing consequences for federally funded schools. If schools miss the test targets for several years, the district could have to restructure the entire school. This might include replacing staff members who were related to the failure.

“This is just step one of a five-step improvement process,” Gibbon said about school choice directive.

Oak Harbor isn’t alone, he added. Over 60 percent of schools in Washington state failed to meet testing goals this year, and about 1,000 schools are in one of the five steps of improvement. Yesterday, state Superintendent Randy Dorn called the No Child Left Behind law “completely unfair.”

Gibbon said that there have already been a few requests from parents to transfer a child, but he can’t tell if it will be an overwhelming number yet.

The district will have a say about which schools students can transfer to, but they can’t deny a child from moving, even if the sites are jam-packed.

The school board grew concerned after hearing a list of suggestions by the Department of Education, in cases in which a school is at capacity. It suggested changing school boundaries, buying portable classrooms or creating double shifts for students to attend certain times a day.

Schulte said that a wave of transfers could also take money away from staffing. The school district is required to direct $250,000 of its federal money to pay for free transportation and professional development.

“With more transportation we will hire fewer instructional aides,” Schulte said.

The annual evaluation is only a preliminary look at the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test scores. A full report on the test will be released this month, with results and state averages.

The schools that didn’t meet WASL goals this year include Oak Harbor High School, Crescent Harbor Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, Broad View Elementary, North Whidbey Middle School and Oak Harbor Middle School.

This fall, Gibbon said schools will continue improving math and reading programs. The district will begin its second year with StoryTown, a reading program adopted last year for elementary students. The district will add new math and language arts curriculum.

District officials will also launch the STAR reading and math assessment, a test program that will align with the Measurements of Student Progress and the High School Proficiency Exam, which are slated to replace the WASL next year.

“I’m feeling very hopeful,” said the new Crescent Harbor Elementary principal, Kate Schreck. “In several areas we were close to hitting that benchmark and I feel the work we do will take us above that.”