More students in Whatcom County schools were able to pass the state math and science tests than last year, especially at the high school level.

However, many schools are far from having all students meet state standards.

Results from the Measurements of Student Progress and High School Proficiency Exam were released Tuesday, Aug. 30. Students in grades 3-8 take the MSP and high school students, mostly 10th-graders, take the HSPE as well as math tests at the end of their math classes. Passing the reading and writing HSPE is a graduation requirement. Students also are required to pass the math test or continue taking math classes until they graduate.

Several county elementary schools - Cascadia, Columbia, Lowell, Nooksack and Wade King - posted high passing rates this year in several subjects and grades, showing up multiple times on rankings of the top scores in the county. All Lowell Elementary fifth-graders passed the reading test, and nearly all third graders did too. Nearly all - 95 percent - of Nooksack Elementary fifth-graders passed the science test, the only science passing rate in the county above 90 percent.

Math remains a difficult subject for many county students, with classroom passing rates concentrated between 60 and 79 percent. But four districts - Bellingham, Blaine, Lynden and Meridian - had an increase in the number of students passing in all grades. In the other three school districts, the percentage of students passing declined in one or two grades.

High school students appeared to do better on the end-of-course tests this spring than the comprehensive HSPE during the 2009-10 school year. For the first time, high schoolers took their state math test at the end of the school year, right as they were finishing whatever math class they were enrolled in. All 10tth-grade students were required to take an end-of-course Algebra 1 test, unless they were enrolled in geometry, in which case they took a geometry test instead.

Students not in 10th grade who were enrolled in algebra or geometry also took the tests.

State officials have warned against comparing passing rates from the end-of-course tests with results from past years, since the tests aren't the same.

Overall, the percentage of students meeting the high school math testing requirement increased significantly. Whatcom County high schools had between 41 and 56 percent of 10th-graders passing the math HSPE last year. This year between 59 and 72 percent passed the algebra test and between 74 and 83 percent passed the geometry test.

Passing the science test, which is not yet a graduation requirement, is still difficult for many students, however more students passed in each district than the year before. Several classrooms had 50 to 69 percent of students pass, but some saw passing rates of 80 to 90 percent. Only seven classrooms dropped in the percentage of students passing.

For the most part, county students continued to do well on the writing test, but several districts had fewer students passing this year compared to the last couple. High schoolers continue to have the highest percentage meeting the standard: Sehome, Lynden, Blaine, Nooksack Valley, Bellingham and Options were above 92 percent.

Reading continued to be one of Whatcom County students' strong skills, despite the percentage of students passing the test declined in at least one grade in each district. Most classrooms had passing rates between 65 and 89 percent.

The MSP and HSPE are considered high-stakes tests because they are used to determine whether or not schools and districts are meeting federal standards.

Below is a brief look at how each district performed.

Bellingham

Not only did the Bellingham School District have all Lowell Elementary fifth-graders pass the reading test, all Options High School tenth-graders passed the writing test, an achievement for the district's small alternative high school.

For the district as a whole, math was the success story. Scores went up in every elementary and middle school grade, when compared to results from the 2009-10 school year. The largest gain was for eighth-graders; 65.5 percent passed in the 2010-11 school year compared to 52.5 percent in 2009-10.

Larrabee Elementary third-graders had one of the largest gains in the county with almost 69 percent of students passing the math test. During the 2009-10 school year, only 26 percent passed. Columbia Elementary had 89 percent of third-graders pass math, the top rate in all math levels in the entire county.

High school students also performed well on the new end-of-course tests, with 71 percent of students tested passing algebra and 81 percent passing geometry.

Despite increases over last year, the percentage of students passing math is lower than five years ago for students in grades 3, 6 and 7.

Reading scores were more of a mixed bag, with some grades improving and others declining. The largest decline was for seventh-graders: students passing the reading test dropped from 74 to 64.5 percent. As sixth-graders the previous school year, about 71 percent of that group passed the test.

Science scores also increased in the three grades tested - 5, 8 and 10 - with fifth-graders passing jumping from about 47 percent in the 2009-10 school year to nearly 69 percent in 2010-11. Six district schools - Fairhaven Middle and Carl Cozier, Lowell, Happy Valley, Columbia and Wade King elementaries - had passing rates above 80 percent.

The percentage of students passing the writing test was up for fourth-graders, down for seventh-graders and about the same for high school students.

Overall district passing rates were higher than the state average in all but one area, seventh-grade writing, and that was by less than a percentage point.

Blaine

The percentage of students passing science tests in the Blaine School District increased in every grade, while some grades struggled to pass the reading test. The largest math gain was in third grade, where almost 63 percent of students passed compared to about 44 percent the year before.

Despite the gains, the district still has lower passing rates than the state in two areas: grades 4 and 5 math.

Reading test results were mixed. Passing rates declined in grades 4 and 7 and were below 70 percent. Passing rates were as high as nearly 88 percent for high school students.

Writing test results were similar to last year, with small gains in grades 7 and 10 and a small loss in grade 4.

Blaine Elementary had one of the largest gains in the county on the science test, with about 66 percent of fifth-graders passing compared to 27.5 percent the year before. Tenth-graders also made progress this year, with about 67 percent passing, compared to less than 60 percent the year before.

Ferndale

For another year, the Ferndale School District had gains and losses in the percentage of students passing the reading, math and writing tests, but this year the gains outweigh the losses.

Students passing reading in grades 5, 7 and 10 dropped as much as 3 percentage points. But those passing in grades 3, 4, 6 and 8 increased by as much as 10 percentage points.

Cascadia Elementary fourth-grade students had some of the highest scores in the county in reading, math and writing, the three subjects students were tested in. About 90.5 percent passed the reading test, about 84 percent passed math and nearly 94 percent passed writing.

Students made gains in all grades tested on science, with the percentage of fifth-graders passing districtwide nearly doubling - about 63 percent this year compared to about 33 percent during the 2009-10 school year.

The district-level data, which includes Lummi Nation Schools, shows that the percentage of students passing the tests is above the state average in all but three areas: seventh- and eighth-grade math and the high school algebra and science tests.

Between 62 and 66 percent of students in grades 3 through 6 passed math, an increase of up to 8 percentage points when compared to the year before. High school students also struggled with the algebra test, with only about 59 percent passing, the lowest high school rate in the county. But, nearly 77 percent of students who took the geometry test passed.

The percentage of students passing writing declined slightly in grades 7 and 10 but increased by 10 percentage points in grade 4, where nearly 70 percent passed.

Lynden

The Lynden School District reversed declining math scores from last year, showing increases in the percentage of students passing in all grades. The largest gains: The percentage of fifth-graders passing the math test jumped from 51 to 74 this year, and the percentage of sixth graders jumped from 41 to 64 percent.

The district also had one of the highest classroom-level passing rates in the county, with about 86 percent of Isom Elementary fifth-graders passing math. That class also had one of the largest gains in the county on the math test - only about 44 percent of Isom fifth-graders passed the year before.

Students in grades 3, 7 and 8 had lower passing rates in reading than last year. The percentage passing in the other four grades increased. About 87 percent of high school students passed the reading test.

The percentage of students passing the science test districtwide increased in every grade possible, with the largest gain in fifth grade. About 68 percent of those students passed compared to about 38 percent the year before.

Districtwide, passing rates were above the state average in all but five areas: grade 6-8 reading and grades 7-8 math.

Meridian

Passing rates for the Meridian School District remained below state averages in most areas this year, however all grades made gains on the math test.

Middle school students showed the most progress on math, especially in sixth grade, where students passing rose 11 percentage points to 59 percent.

Meridian High School also boasted the highest passing rate for the end-of-course math tests, with about 83 percent of students who took the geometry test passing. About 68 percent of students who took the algebra test passed, which is similar to how students in other districts fared.

Students in grades 4, 5 and 8 struggled with the reading test, with fifth grade seeing the largest decline, from nearly 79 percent passing in 2009-10 to about 64 percent this year.

But other grades showed large gains in the percentage of students meeting standard. Sixth grade had the largest gain, with the percentage passing jumping from nearly 47 percent to about 68 percent.

The percentage of students passing the science test continued increasing this year, especially at the eighth-grade level: about 67 percent ts passed compared to 45 percent the year before.

Mount Baker

The percentage of students passing reading and writing tests in the Mount Baker School District continued to decline this year in almost all grades.

But math passing rates increased in every grade except eighth. Seventh-graders showed the highest passing rate, 66.7 percent; only about 51 percent passed last year.

High school students also improved on the nearly 60 percent passing rate on the math test last year, with about 65 percent who took the algebra test passing and about 74 percent who took the geometry test passing.

Only two grades had gains on the reading test - 3 and 6. Acme Elementary third-graders had one of the largest reading-test gains in the county, with about 91 percent of students passing the test this year, compared to 64 percent last year. Harmony Elementary sixth-graders had one of the highest classroom-level passing rates in the county, with about 92 percent passing.

More Kendall Elementary fourth- and fifth-graders passed the math test this year, each increasing the passing rate by about 20 percentage points. But still only about 33 and 44 percent of students passed, respectively, among the lowest rates in the county.

In science the district's three elementary schools posted passing rates between 41 and 45 percent, some of the lowest in the county.

Districtwide, passing rates were above the state average in half the possible categories. All passing rates writing were below the state average - the percentage of fourth and tenth-grade students passing the test dropped by 10 percentage points each.

Nooksack Valley

While testing results were mixed for the Nooksack Valley School District this year, many classrooms posted some of the highest passing rates in the county.

Nooksack Elementary had the highest percentage of students pass the science test in a single class in the county, with about 95 percent of fifth-graders meeting standard. Students at the school have performed well on the science test in past years as well. Those students also had one of the highest reading passing rates - 91 percent - and one of the highest math passing rates - 88 percent.

Students at Nooksack Valley Middle and High schools and fourth-graders at Sumas and Nooksack elementaries also did well on the writing test, with all four groups among the top 10 writing passing rates in the county.

Unlike the rest of the Whatcom County districts, more Nooksack students passed the reading test this year in every grade except sixth, where about 55 percent of students met standard, a drop of about 14 percentage points compared to the previous year.

More students passed the writing test in each grade possible, with the largest gain in fourth grade: nearly 88 percent passed the test this year compared to about 65 percent last year.

The percentage of students passing the math test in grades 3 and 8 declined, as did the percentage of eighth-grade students passing the science test.

Districtwide, passing rates were above the state average in all but three categories: seventh-grade reading, sixth-grade math and eighth-grade science.