More schools than ever before in the Iowa Quad-Cities fell short of expectations this year, according to a recent report from the Iowa Department of Education.

In Davenport, Bettendorf, North Scott and Pleasant Valley districts, 19 schools landed on the Iowa Department of Education's "needs assistance list" for failing to meet state targets for at least two consecutive years. Another seven missed goals for the first time on reading and math exams, which students took last school year, including five in the Davenport School District.

"We take this seriously and want to make sure all of our schools are improving," said Dawn Anderson Rascher, Davenport's director of assessment, equity and record services. "The district wants to make sure we focus on student achievement and are meeting the needs of all students."

Families at Fillmore, Jackson, Jefferson and Monroe elementary schools; Lincoln Academy of Integrated Arts; and J.B. Young and Smart intermediate schools have the option to transfer their children to better performing schools in the district, because they receive federal Title I money for their low-income students. Therefore, the schools are subject to federal sanctions under No Child Left Behind.

No other area Iowa schools face those consequences.

Four schools that failed to make goals last year avoided the state's needs assistance list this year. Anderson Rascher could not provide their names. According to Quad-City Times archives, the schools include Adams, Hayes, Buffalo and Truman elementary schools.

Laura Lortz, spokeswoman for the district, would not release the names of the five schools that missed targets for the first time. They could join the list of schools needing assistance if they don't improve in the next round of tests.

The state education department was able to provide the names of three of the schools: Buchanan and Madison elementary schools and Walcott Intermediate School. They join 15 other underperforming Davenport schools, which are already in need of assistance. The district has 28 schools total.

In other districts:

-- Bettendorf Middle School missed targets in reading and math for the fourth and fifth year, respectively. Bettendorf High School missed targets for the first time this year because of lagging scores among its special education students and low participation rates among poor students, said Mike Raso, Bettendorf School District assistant superintendent.

Additionally, Neil Armstrong Elementary school was flagged for the first time this year because of low participation rates. However, that's because of a mix-up involving the tests that prompted all third- and fourth-grade tests to be thrown out, Raso said.

-- In the North Scott School District, North Scott High School was the only building to land on the state's list of underperforming schools, because it missed targets in reading and math for the third consecutive year.

-- Pleasant Valley Junior High School missed goals for the third consecutive year in reading. It was the only school in the Pleasant Valley School District to be flagged by the state.

Statewide, the number of failing schools more than tripled from last year, when 127 made the state's "needs assistance" list. This year 457 - or almost 21 percent - of the state's 1,442 schools were on it.

"We anticipate as time goes on there are going to be more schools identified," said Elaine Watkins-Miller, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education. "We did have an increase this year but so did other states. Some have 50 to 70 percent of their schools identified."