Students attending failing schools in Georgia will get free tutoring earlier and struggling schools will get more help from the state sooner, under new rules announced Tuesday.

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Georgia is one of six states allowed by the U.S. Department of Education to change the consequences public schools face if they fail to meet the goals required under federal education law.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act says all students should pass state reading and math tests by 2014. Until then, schools must reach certain benchmarks on annual tests. Schools that repeatedly fail face sanctions.

The law treats all schools that fail the same, regardless of whether they missed the mark by a little or a lot. The flexibility Georgia won will allow the state to ease the sanctions on schools that barely missed the goal so emphasis can be placed on schools with more severe academic problems.

Georgia was one of 17 states that applied to the U.S. Department of Education to participate in a pilot program to address concerns the law is too rigid and follows a one-size-fits-all approach. A committee of experts reviewed each proposal. Based on the group's comments, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings chose six states to try the program this year. The other five states are: Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio.

Georgia schools superintendent Kathy Cox said the changes give the state "the opportunity to stop treating all schools the same under NCLB — a change that is much needed in the law."

Clayton County parent Jo Ann Mitchell-Stringer said providing tutoring quicker will help, but there are still many problems with the law.

"At least with tutoring you know kids who are in trouble are getting some extra help," she said. "But how much tutoring can you do?"

Judy Jones, testing director for Cobb County schools, said the changes give educators more ways to help struggling students. The new rules recognize that schools in close range of meeting testing goals don't need to reform as much as schools with large-scale problems, she said.

"If a school is just missing [testing goals] by just a tiny bit, you don't have to overhaul every single thing in the school," she said.

The changes will go into effect this year, which forces the state to delay releasing by a couple of weeks its annual report showing whether schools met federal testing goals. Now the report is scheduled to be released the week of July 21, said Dana Tofig, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education.

Schools that met testing goals are said to have made annual yearly progress, also called AYP. Nothing happens the first time a school misses AYP. Schools that miss for two years in a row because of low scores in the same subject are labelled as "needs improvement" and face sanctions. The sanctions worsen the longer schools are in this category.

Here are some of the changes schools and parents can expect:

• Tutoring before transfers

Schools may offer students free tutoring before letting children transfer to higher-performing schools. Federal law currently requires schools to allow the transfers after missing state testing goals for two consecutive years, while free tutoring is provided after missing the mark for three consecutive years. Georgia will let school districts switch the order so that tutoring can happen first.

During this past school year, 208 of the state's 2,100 schools were in this category.

• Different problems, different punishments

Schools in needs improvement status for three to four years will face different punishments depending on why they missed testing goals. Schools that missed by just a little will choose from one of four actions, such as extending the school year or converting to a charter school. Those with more problems must choose from a list of six options, which include harsher steps such as replacing the existing staff.

The state will choose the punishment for schools with the most serious problems.

For the school year that just ended, 69 of the state's 2,100 schools were in this category.

• More help sooner

State education officials will become more involved with failing schools earlier. The state will get involved when schools have needed improvement for five consecutive years, rather seven years in a row. The state plans to assign one monitor to work full-time at each failing school as a supervisor. This monitor will provide advice over hiring, teaching methods and other academic issues. The state says this is not a takeover because budget and non-academic decisions will be handled by each school district.

During the past school year, 46 of the state's 2,1000 schools were in this category.

Staff writer Diane R. Stepp contributed to this article.