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Despite a second year of gains, half of students continued to struggle in science, state tests show.

Student scores on the Minnesota state science test continue to improve, but at a slower pace than last year.

The second year of improvement, reported Tuesday, still left fewer than half of the state's fifth-graders, eighth-graders and high school students showing what Minnesota officials consider to be an acceptable grasp of science.

Results for the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) II science tests showed that 49 percent of the students who took the test either met or exceeded state standards for science. That's up from 46 percent in 2009. In 2008, the first time the state test was administered, 40 percent of students met or exceeded state standards.

"I think we're making progress, certainly in overall percentage growth," said Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "If results are growing at a nice, steady pace, at least we're moving in the right direction, and that's good."

Students don't have to pass the science MCA IIs to graduate. The science tests are not considered for the No Child Left Behind federal law's adequate yearly progress list, which requires schools to meet testing goals in order to avoid penalties.

Educators say the science tests have an importance that goes beyond scores and passing rates. For years educators and politicians have been citing science as one of the fields in which American students must excel to keep up with technical advancements worldwide and compete with their foreign counterparts.

"We have been emphasizing the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)," Seagren said. "This provides us an opportunity to judge how well our students are doing in that discipline. We know that more of our students need to have more of a science background."

About 178,500 students took the science test earlier this year. Students were graded on the basis of four achievement levels. Those who scored in the highest two were considered to be proficient in the subject area.

Achievement gap persists

Improvement on the scores varied by grade. For instance, eighth-grade proficiency rates rose 5 percentage points, to 48 percent, while fifth-grade proficiency rates rose only 1 point, to 47 percent.

Although scores of racial minority students generally showed improvement, it wasn't enough to narrow the achievement gap in test score performance between minority and white students. For instance, science proficiency among eighth-grade black students rose a solid 5 percentage points, to 18 percent. At the same time, however, eighth-grade white students' proficiency rate increase 6 percentage points, to 55 percent.

In Minneapolis, where 29 percent of the students tested demonstrated proficiency this year, results by grade were mixed. Eighth-graders, in general, performed better than last year, but fifth-graders did not. White students, in particular, posted big gains at the eighth-grade levels. While district leaders celebrated that improvement, they say they're also concerned about the growing achievement gap between white students and all other students.

"While [white students' progress] is a good thing, we want to make sure we're dealing with the equity piece and closing that gap," said Kathryn O'Gorman, district evaluation and testing specialist.

In Anoka-Hennepin, the state's largest district, the percentage of students proficient in science jumped to 54 percent from 50 percent last year, and 43 percent in 2008. Johnna Rohmer-Hirt, district director of research, evaluation and testing, said it helped that district fourth- and fifth-grade teachers now specialize in particular subject areas rather than teaching them all.

"The teachers are focused on subject areas instead of being generalists," said Rohmer-Hirt. "So they're able to increase their conceptual knowledge of subjects. We believe that's benefitting kids."

Students can take the test at any level in high school because the pace of taking science courses might differ from one student to the next.

Results for three other subject areas in which students are testing -- math, writing, and reading -- were released earlier in the year. Students must pass the writing and reading tests in order to graduate. Results of the reading and math tests affect schools' standings on the federal adequate yearly progress lists. Next month, the state Department of Education will release those lists.

Staff writer Jim Foster contributed to this report.

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