Only 32 percent of California's public schools made adequate progress last year on English and math exams in accordance with federally approved guidelines for improvement, figures released Thursday revealed.

In the Long Beach Unified School District, 59 percent of elementary schools met their improvement targets, as did 13 percent of middle schools and 27 percent of high schools.

To comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which expects all children to be proficient in English/language arts and mathematics by 2014, the state Department of Education released base scores for the new Adequate Yearly Progress report.

The figures, derived from 2002 standardized test results, serve as a starting point to chart future improvements and will be the basis of comparisons in mid- August when a new batch of test scores is accompanied by the 2003 Adequate Yearly Progress report.

But they also serve as an immediate gauge indicating how much work must be done before California's schools reach the lofty goals set forth by the federal government.

The numbers revealed that 37.2 percent of the state's elementary schools met the benchmark for improvement, as did 19.7 percent of middle and high schools.

With every state furiously implementing strategies to comply with No Child Left Behind legislation, slow-and-steady growth seems to be the preferred approach.

In order for a California school or district to meet minimum progress requirements this year, 13.6 percent of elementary and middle school students and 11.2 percent of high school students must demonstrate proficiency as set by the state Board of Education in English/language arts. In the math category, 16 percent of elementary and middle school kids and 9.6 percent of high school students must reach or exceed the proficiency threshold. These targets will increase in subsequent years.

But that's not all schools have to do to make so-called adequate yearly progress. They must also test at least 95 percent of their students. And large subgroups, such as ethnic populations or low-income students numbering at least 100 students or comprising 15 percent or more of enrollment, must meet the same proficiency standards as the entire population.

Long Beach Unified, being one of the most diverse districts in the nation, has no less than 10 subgroups. According to 2002 figures, only one of them students with mental or physical disabilities failed to reach the proficiency percentages deemed adequate.

Dick Van Der Laan, a spokesman for LBUSD, said Long Beach's special education students fared better than their counterparts from comparable school systems in Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno.

Students with severe cognitive impairments have the choice of taking an alternate exam, said Lynn Winters, the district's assistant superintendent of research. Those with mild disabilities can opt to take a test below their grade level, but that automatically rules out the possibility of being declared proficient, she said.

Overall, Van Der Laan said he was pleased with LBUSD's performance.

"We did extremely well in comparison with other large, urban school districts,' he said. "We were just a hair's breadth away from achieving the proficiency levels for special education youngsters. We came closer than any other large district in the state.'

But not everyone was pleased Thursday. In a written statement, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said even though the results were expected, he was "truly concerned with the outcome, but it only strengthens my resolve to focus on California's ongoing education improvement efforts.'

O'Connell added that the Academic Performance Index, an annual scorecard of the state's public schools, is a more accurate assessment of what kids are learning.

Still, the Adequate Yearly Progress report is not to be taken lightly. Certain schools that do not meet their goals for two straight years are subject to "program improvement.' The schools that could be affected by that are part of the federal Title I program that serves low-income students.

When a school is under program improvement, students can choose to transfer to a better school within the district, and their former campus has to pay the cost of transportation. The government can also mandate that Title I dollars be spent on tutoring and other specific programs.