Getting off the failing list. (Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining No Child Left Behind).

Ok, the worst has happened and one of the schools in your district is going to receive a failing score under the regulations of NCLB. But before you schedule an immediate vacation, or call the local newspaper and rail about all that is wrong with the law, there may still be hope.

It is possible to successfully appeal a failing score, according to Maree Sneed, a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan & Hartson.

The first step is a basic one, she says. See if there is any basis for appeal by checking the accuracy of the data.

While the name of the law implies that every child's test scores will be counted, this is both true and false. Scores from some students are exempt from their school's grade, although these scores are factored into the district's total grade.

Any student who has been in his or her school for less than a year can have their score exempted from their school's score, Sneed says. States will determine how long students have to be in school to be counted within that school's test results.

The other possible exception involves students in a subgroup that is too small to be statistically accurate. (Typically, this is about 30 students, but again, each state determines the limit.) These students, who can include special ed or non-English speakers, would have their scores counted district wide, but not within any specific school.

These exceptions mean that in an extreme case, a district could have all of its schools pass, and yet the district as a whole could be considered failing, Sneed adds.