There's only one negative aspect regarding the new junior high school tutoring program approved last week by the Butler School Board: It should have been implemented before now.

At its meeting on Dec. 4, the board gave approval for an additional reading teacher and funding for a before- and after-school tutoring initiative. The main focus of the program will be special education students who did not meet target scores in last spring's Pennsylvania System of School Assessment testing.

Those students were the main reason why the junior high school failed to attain Adequate Yearly Progress for the fourth consecutive year under the PSSA, placing the school in the category of needing corrective action.

Schools and school districts face the prospect of corrective action by the state — action that would be out of their hands — if they continually fail to meet goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Because of the test performance in question, the junior high school was required to create a plan to improve scores, and the board's Dec. 4 action is a product of the new strategy.

In Grade 6, 140 reading students and 118 math students did not meet minimum PSSA requirements. Approximately 150 Grade 7 students were below requirements.

Not everyone in the educational community is a fan of No Child Left Behind and the PSSA. But for the students targeted for the tutorial program, the pressure now on the school district to achieve better scores could result in their better understanding of the two subject areas in question and help them on their respective educational paths.

In this instance, then, No Child Left Behind is having a positive impact by forcing a decision that otherwise might not have been made.

The Butler School District, as a whole, meets Adequate Yearly Progress. That must not be overlooked amid the concern over the below-par progress of the Grades 7 and 8 special education students in question.

But this is an opportunity for the junior high school — and the district in general — to do better.

The Dec. 4 action is a good first step toward achieving that objective.