Ellendale Elementary School was removed from a list of underperforming schools released by the Minnesota Department of Education last month.

The department listed 259 schools originally, but removed 115 schools for the final tally released Thursday. The list is part of the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The school had been the only one from a school district in Freeborn County to make the list, and New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva’s superintendent said the problem was a data error showing that not enough students took the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment.

On appeal, the district proved that it had 100 percent participation in the tests.

Ellendale Elementary School principal Paul Sparby said he was glad to be done jumping through hoops to clear his school.

He said he had been frustrated that the list had been made public before results had been verified, particularly since his school had scored well, and had been mistakenly labeled as underperforming.

(Contact Tim Sturrock at tim.sturrock@albertleatribune.com or 379-3438.)