Six in 10 Minnesota students are not meeting state science standards, according to test results that the Minnesota Department of Education released Tuesday.

The results are based on the 2008 Science MCA-II exam, given for the first time to Minnesota fifth-graders, eighth-graders and high schoolers. High schoolers take the test once during their career, after finishing their life skills curriculum.

According to the results, only 39 percent of fifth-graders, 38 percent of eighth-graders and 43 percent of high school students met state science proficiency standards.

Locally, school districts varied above and below state average. Dassel-Cokato had the highest proficiency rate at 52.7 percent; Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City had the lowest at 29.4 percent.

In Litchfield, while the numbers were below state average, they remained steady across all grades. About 34 percent of the district’s fifth-graders and eighth-graders met or exceeded the state’s standards. Thirty-three percent of high schoolers were proficient.

Being the first time the test was given, Litchfield Superintendent Bill Wold said the test doesn’t say much other than the district needs to do better. He said the district will use these results as baseline scores, as it adds science to its district goal of improving reading and math MCA-II scores.

“The one-time shot can’t tell you everything about your program,” Wold said. “(But) it can tell (that) you need to do better and implement some strategies, especially looking at specifications for the test and those types of things.”

Read the complete story and see a breakdown of Litchfield scores in the Aug. 21 Independent Review.