For the first time, students from most city high schools will be able to seek transfers this month to Allderdice and Langley high schools.

The transfers are part of the school choice requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It enables students to transfer to higher-performing schools from schools that repeatedly missed making adequate yearly progress.

The requirement was triggered for the high schools this school year because Pittsburgh Public Schools began spending federal Title I money, which targets students from low-income families, in them. The district previously spent the money only in lower grades.

Parents this week are receiving letters telling them they have until Sept. 29 to ask for transfers. The transfers are being offered to students at Brashear, Carrick, Oliver, Peabody, Perry, Schenley and Westinghouse high schools.

Students at the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, which met the No Child Left Behind standard, are not eligible for transfers. CAPA is not being offered as a school choice because it is a magnet school that requires auditions for entry.

District Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's letter also notes two charter high schools, City Charter and Career Connections, as choice possibilities.

In addition to the high schools, transfers are being offered to students at Carmalt Science and Technology Academy, a K-8 school.

"When those letters go out and people read them, I just hope they really take the time out to think about what they're doing in the middle of a child's first semester in school," said school board member Theresa Colaizzi.

"You're talking about a big move, if that's what they do. It doesn't, truly in my opinion, mean that they would be making a better choice."

No one knows how this will play out. When students in lower grades in some other schools were offered choice last year, only 87 chose to transfer.

"I don't know that we know what the impact is going to be," said Lisa Fischetti, chief of staff. "We need to put out the information and wait for a response."

School board member Randall Taylor said, "I'm very concerned what may happen if we have large amounts of parents and students who decide to say, 'We want to go to Allderdice.' The law states you cannot turn someone down because there's no room."

He said he hopes students won't transfer from Westinghouse High School, located three miles from Allderdice, noting it has instituted positive changes.

Under the federal act, the district must provide transportation for the transferring students. For high school students, that often is a Port Authority bus pass.

While enrollment and attendance figures at city schools are in a state of flux, Allderdice on Friday counted 1,397 students and Langley, 526. Allderdice has an official capacity of 1,913, and Langley, 972.

Mr. Roosevelt's letter to parents notes that "as required by law, if the district is unable to accommodate all transfer requests, priority must be given to the lowest achieving children from low-income families."

The targets that schools must meet under No Child Left Behind are based on achievement on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in math and reading in grades three, five, eight and 11; participation in the tests; and attendance or graduation rates. They also must meet targets for subgroups, such as low-income students, if there are more than 40 tested.

The law requires districts to offer transfers to students in schools on the school improvement or corrective action lists for repeated failure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP).

Brashear, Carrick and Schenley are in School Improvement I while Oliver, Perry and Westinghouse are in the more serious category of Corrective Action I.

Peabody and Carmalt are in the "making progress" category because they made their targets this year, but because they were in School Improvement II last year, they remain eligible for school choice.

The law also makes the low-income students at Carmalt, Oliver, Peabody, Perry and Westinghouse eligible for tutoring at no charge.

The two choice schools, Allderdice and Langley, both are on the warning list, the first step.

Allderdice missed one of 17 targets, that for math for black students. Langley missed five of 17, including math and reading for all and for economically disadvantaged students, as well as math for black students.

The No Child Left Behind sanctions apply to schools receiving federal Title I money. Ms. Fischetti said district officials decided to use that money in the high schools so that it was disbursed equitably throughout the district and to help pay for support needed to meet academic challenges in the high schools.

The district's letters spell out the shortcomings of the high schools in school improvement and corrective action:

Brashear missed math and reading targets for black and economically disadvantaged students.

Carrick missed the reading targets for all students, black students and economically disadvantaged students. Its test participation rate was too low for special-education students in math and reading and for black students in reading.

Oliver did not meet the math and reading targets for all students, black students and economically disadvantaged students.

Perry did not meet the math targets for all students, black students and economically disadvantaged students. It also missed the mark for reading for economically disadvantaged students. It did not have enough test participation on either exam for white and economically disadvantaged students.

Schenley missed the reading target for the economically disadvantaged.

Westinghouse missed math targets for all students, black students and economically disadvantaged students.

Some other schools in the city also did not make adequate yearly progress. Spring Hill Elementary School is on the warning list. The others were either closed this fall or are considered new schools because of significant feeder pattern changes.