One prominent Chicago researcher says he isn’t surprised by news that one-third of the state’s schools failed to meet tougher targets.

Nearly 1,200 schools across the state failed to meet the No Child Left Behind targets—a big increase over last year.

That’s largely because the bar was raised dramatically.

Last year, schools needed to get 55 percent of students to meet standards on state tests. This year, the expectation was 62.5 percent.

EASTON: That’s just a huge jump in the expectations for schools.

John Easton is the executive director at the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.

EASTON: Many of the schools do an excellent job, but this kind of rapid improvement is very rare.

Targets will continue to increase until the year 2014, when schools are expected to get 100 percent of students to meet standards.

I’m Linda Lutton, Chicago Public Radio.