Nearly 185,000 students — in grades five, eight and high school — took the new interactive, online science exam, the first of its kind in the nation.

High school students scored the best, with 43 percent proficient. Fifth- and eighth-graders performed about the same, with 39 percent and 38 percent, respectively, meeting standards.

The scores, like results of other statewide testing, demonstrated a remarkable achievement gap. For example, 48 percent of white students were proficient on the high school science exam compared with 13 percent of black students.

Education officials caution the science results are difficult to analyze because there is only one year's data.

"We would have liked to receive better results, but it's something to build on," said Chas Anderson, the state's deputy education commissioner. "Hopefully, the initiatives we've put in place will help us do this."

The federal No Child Left Behind law requires states to test students in science. But low scores have no consequences for schools. Low scores on reading and math tests can result in sanctions for schools.

In the east metro, Mahtomedi posted the best scores, with 63 percent of fifth-graders and 78 percent of high-schoolers achieving proficiency. St. Paul was at the bottom of the results, with just 22 percent of students proficient at each grade level.

Denise Waalen, Mahtomedi's assistant superintendent, said the district has put a significant emphasis on science, math and technology over the past few years.

The district is implementing an engineering and technology magnet program and installing interactive, electronic whiteboards in most classrooms to make learning more interactive. Waalen said the whiteboards are particularly helpful for science.

"If you can't have a hands-on experiment in the classroom, you have something

The engineering program starts in middle school by infusing engineering and technology materials into the curriculum. Specialized courses will be offered in eighth grade and at the high school level. Summer camps are offered for elementary students.

In St. Paul, the results — especially the achievement gap, as well as scores for students learning English — troubled administrators, said Michelle Walker, the district's chief accountability officer.

"Obviously we have strong concerns with the results, but we have to investigate these results further," Walker said.

Scores for elementary schools in St. Paul were all over the map. At St. Anthony Park, for example, 96 percent of fifth-graders were proficient. But three schools — Bruce F. Vento, Longfellow and Maxfield — had none of their fifth-graders meeting standards.

Nancy Stachel, the district's deputy chief academic officer, said school officials will use that data to see if changes need to be made in the curriculum, whether it's beefing up instruction in certain content areas or changing the timing of teaching certain subject matter during the school year so students are prepared.

"There's a lot of analysis to do," Stachel said. "We really need to dig in and figure out what's working and what's not ... what are schools like St. Anthony Park doing?"

So why the wide disparity in scores?

Poverty affects students' ability to learn more than any other factor. And the concentration of low-income students varies widely in the east metro.

In Mahtomedi, for example, about 8 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, an indicator of poverty. In St. Paul, about 71 percent qualify.

Anderson said the results show Minnesota needs to focus on students' science and math skills. And that comes as no surprise. The state's ACT scores released last week, for example, indicated only 40 percent of 2008 high school graduates were ready for college-level science.

The push is on locally and nationally to increase the rigor in science and math instruction so U.S. students can compete with their peers around the globe.

State lawmakers passed new graduation requirements in 2006, requiring algebra II and physics or chemistry for a high school diploma. Those go into effect starting with the class of 2015.

Anderson also pointed to math and science teacher academies being set up around the state to help instructors deliver more rigorous content in the classroom.

"It's really essential we train our teachers well to deliver higher levels of math and science at an early age," she said.

Megan Boldt can be reached at 651-228-5495.

Online

Find out how your school fared at twincities.com/dataplanet.

THE NUMBERS / 39%

Fifth-graders proficient in science

38%

Eighth-graders proficient in science

43%

High schoolers proficient in science