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RALEIGH – School performance results could go up across the state after a decision by the state Board of Education to calculate standardized test scores differently.

The board voted unanimously Thursday to include results from students' first retakes in performance scores for schools. The move could mean a higher percentage of students passing.

Each student's performance on state standardized tests affects his or her entire school.

"With No Child Left Behind and the ABCs of public education, schools have to show growth, and it's a very public thing," Board of Education member Kathy Taft said. "Their scores are very public, which is fine. But sometimes, they don't truly reflect what's going on in that school. So we have many school systems that took the initiative to retest students."

Taft said school systems like Johnston County's have had great success in letting students who failed the initial test take it again. But the new scores weren't reflected in the annual reports.

"Superintendents were fairly adamant in they felt like even though retesting has counted for students the whole time, that's not the issue," Taft said. "They wanted it to count for their schools and their scores."

Taft says administrators convinced her committee of the benefits of the recalculation, despite the extra time and money it may take to retest thousands of students.

"It's the right thing to do for the students. We want all of our students to score at high levels," Taft said. "If they can do it after a retest, after having a bad day on the first test, or after whatever goes on before that, then so be it."

The policy only applies to those in the third through eighth grade this year. The change will take effect for high schools starting the next school year.