Jordan Public Schools math and reading proficiency dropped below state-wide performances in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, according to data recently released from the Minnesota Department of Education.

The Minnesota comprehensive Assessment - II test (MCA-II), which students took in April, measures student performance according to state academic standards in reading, mathematics, and science.

In the fourth grade, only 65 percent of students who took the math test were proficient, compared to 74.8 percent of students who were proficient state-wide. In the fifth grade, 54.6 percent of Jordan students were proficient in math and 69.8 percent were proficient in reading, compared to 65.5 percent and 72.2 percent state-wide, respectively. In the sixth grade, 52.6 percent of Jordan students were proficient in math, compared to 63.7 percent state-wide.

Middle school principal Lance Chambers said he was "very disappointed" in the lower scores in the fifth and sixth grades, but was unsure what, exactly, caused the slip.

"It's got to be the sheer numbers," he guessed.

"Last year was the first year we had 30 in a class," he said, referring to one of the fifth-grade classrooms.

Other grades tested exceeded state-wide numbers in both math and reading.

"I'm very pleased with the increase there," Chambers said of the seventh- and eighth-grade scores, which showed improvement from last year.

Administrators are in the process of analyzing the results, which were released Wednesday. Watch for more updates on the test results on this site and in upcoming issues of the Jordan Independent.

(Katrina Styx is a staff writer for the Jordan Independent. She can be reached at kstyx@jordannews.com.)