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Many Collier County students are still performing below their peers on the reading and mathematics portions of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

However, many schools are making gains and saw improvement over last year’s scores.

The Florida Department of Education released the FCAT reading and math scores for students in third through 10th grades Tuesday. The state also released the science scores for students in grades five, eight and 11.

“I cannot tell you how proud I am of the strong performances by students in all three categories,” said state Education Commissioner Eric Smith.

State officials said they were pleased with the rising scores, especially compared to seven years ago when the state started testing all students in grades 3 to 10 in reading and math.

In 2001, for example, 47 percent of all students could read at grade level, compared to 60 percent in 2008.

The scores released Tuesday will determine grades for Collier County schools and will be used to determine whether the schools made adequate yearly progress as required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Students are rated on achievement levels, with a Level 3, 4 or 5 indicating that the student has scored at or above grade level.

“When I look at our schools, I can say we are moving kids up from a Level 1, and our numbers in Levels 3, 4 and 5 are increasing,” said Chief Instructional Officer Martha Hayes. “One of my goals is to catch up with the state and we have made ground this year.”

Hayes said she was pleased with the elementary school scores overall, noting that the fifth-graders did have some issues.

“That seems to run through the state,” she said. “You can look at some specific schools and see they have done a terrific job. The teachers should be congratulated for their hard work.”

Fifth-graders at Sea Gate Elementary School performed the best county-wide, with 91 percent of the students scoring at or above grade level. Hayes said she was also impressed with Lely Elementary School, which saw 60 percent of its fifth-graders score at or above grade level.

As in years past, younger students continued to outperform older ones. Statewide, 70 percent of fourth-graders read at grade level, for example, compared to 38 percent of 10th-graders.

State officials said the lower scores among older students come at least in part because the reading exams get harder in the higher grades, with more complex stories and more difficult questions.

Smith said while the state is not satisfied with the performance of older students, he said older students have shown “dramatic progress” since the state began administering the test seven years ago.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said.

Collier County middle schoolers scored higher than the state average on the reading portion of the FCAT. Sixty-four percent of Collier sixth-graders scored at or above grade level on the reading portion, a percentage point better than their peers statewide.

In Collier County, 37 percent of 10th-graders are reading at or above grade level, an increase of 5 percentage points over 2007 scores. The state average of 38 percent of 10th-graders at or above grade level was an improvement of 4 percentage points over 2007.

Students must pass the 10th-grade FCAT reading exam before being allowed to graduate from high school. Students can take the test multiple times, up through senior year.

Barron Collier led the pack of 10th-graders reading at or above grade level, with 63 percent. That is an increase of 15 percent over the students’ 2007 scores.

Interim Principal Gary Brown said Barron improved in every area, adding not only did student scores go up, but the number of students scoring Level 1 went down.

“It was a lot of hard work on the part of the teachers. The teachers have taken it seriously. They wanted the students to do well and that carried over into their performance,” he said. “Nothing is easy. It’s a lot of hard work.”

Gulf Coast High School also saw more than 50 percent of its students reading at or above grade level, with 52 percent scoring a Level 3 or above.

Lely, Golden Gate and Immokalee high schools had the most 10th-grade students scoring Level 1 on the exam. Each school had at least 50 percent of 10th-graders scoring Level 1.

“They’re English Language Learners, a lot of them are,” Hayes said.

“We have known Immokalee High School made some slight improvement, Golden Gate was a mixed bag, but I have every confidence in these schools. All in all, I think our schools have done a wonderful job.”

Collier County students performed almost on average with their peers statewide on the science portion of the FCAT. This is the second year that science scores will be a component in determining school grades.

Thirty-nine percent of Collier fifth-graders scored at or above grade level in science, an increase of 3 percent from the 2007 scores. Eighth-graders improved from 37 percent to 41 percent at or above grade level over 2007, and scored higher than their peers statewide by a percentage point.

Eleventh-graders improved their scores from 36 percent in 2007 to 38 percent this year, which was the same as the state’s average.

Parents can look up their children’s FCAT scores beginning at 6 a.m. Thursday at www.FCATparentnetwork.com. Parents will need the password and login code provided by their children’s schools to access the site.