Because he had closed 22 schools and introduced new curricula in a sweeping reorganization of the district, Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt was prepared for students' scores on state reading and math tests to drop this year.

Instead, Mr. Roosevelt yesterday announced that third-, fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders, combined, showed gains in reading and math from 2005-06 to 2006-07, and he said the scores offered early evidence that his new K-8 schools and accelerated learning academies were working.

"These are very, very, very good numbers" given the traumatic change that teachers and students experienced during the school year, he said.

But he said much work is ahead. Scores were down in reading, math or both in some grades, and the percentage of top-scoring students was down in some categories. Mr. Roosevelt also cited a "stubborn" racial achievement gap.

"The overall trend is an upward trend. ... It is not conclusively upward," he said during a morning news conference at district headquarters in Oakland.

Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka attended the event and afterward said achievement gains were largely due to his union's members.

Mr. Roosevelt said other initiatives, such as high school improvements, offer hope for continued growth.

Mr. Roosevelt did not address the district's chances of meeting federal performance requirements, called "adequate yearly progress" or "AYP," for 2006-07. The state Department of Education said it plans to release AYP information later this month, and Mr. Roosevelt said he would withhold comment until then.

AYP requires that a district, its schools and various student subgroups score at least 45 percent proficient or advanced in math and at least 54 percent proficient or advanced in reading. AYP also takes into account attendance rates and percentage of students who take the reading and math tests, formally called the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.

The district has missed AYP for four consecutive years, and after the 2005-06 school year was placed in the category "corrective action I," meaning students in the lowest-performing buildings had to be offered tutoring and transfers to higher-achieving schools. The state could have ordered changes in curriculum or leadership, too, but that did not happen.

If the district fails to meet AYP for 2006-07, it will drop to "corrective action II" and again be required to offer special services to students at the lowest-performing schools. The state again would have the option of imposing changes on district schools.

Mr. Roosevelt did not provide test results for individual schools. He said that information was to be provided to principals yesterday and publicly released another time. The state said it plans to release that information with the AYP data later this month.

Statewide, students in grade 11 and grades three through eight took the state tests in March. For the first time, scores from fourth, sixth and seventh grades will count toward district and school AYP status.

Mr. Roosevelt did not provide scores for those three grades yesterday, saying he's still analyzing them.

He said he provided scores for third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades because they could be compared with previous years' results and because performance in those grades is central to his "Excellence for All" plan.

The state tests have four categories of student achievement: advanced, proficient, basic and below basic.

The combined percentage of district third-, fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders scoring advanced or proficient in math increased to 55.7 in 2006-07, from 54 in 2005-06. The combined percentage of students in those grades scoring proficient or advanced in reading increased to 53.3 from 51.9 during that span.

The best news came in third-grade reading, with the percentage of students proficient or advanced increasing to 59 in 2006-07, from 51.6 in 2005-06. Mr. Roosevelt said the improvement may be due, in part, to a new elementary reading program.

The "Excellence for All" plan calls for 80 percent of third-graders to be proficient or advanced in reading by the end of the 2008-09 school year.

Besides boosting proficiency, Mr. Roosevelt said he was pleased that the district had decreased the percentage of students scoring below basic.

The combined percentage of third-, fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders below basic in math fell from 25.7 in 2005-06 to 23.2 in 2006-07. The combined percentage below basic in reading fell from 27.3 to 26.4 during that period.

Mr. Roosevelt's presentation is on the district's Web site at www.pghboe.net.

The data give district officials much to ponder: Why did third-graders gain in reading while scores of fifth-graders, who also have the new reading program, slipped? Why did the percentage of top-scoring students shrink in some categories, such as the 2.2 percent drop in fifth-graders advanced in math?

Mr. Roosevelt said that:

The percentage of third-graders proficient or advanced in math fell from 71.7 in 2005-06 to 67.1 in 2006-07.

The percentage of fifth-graders proficient or advanced in reading fell from 46.4 to 41.6 during that period. The percentage proficient or advanced in math fell from 58.1 to 57.7.

The percentage of eighth-graders proficient or advanced in reading increased to 57.7 in 2006-07, from 57.6 in 2005-06. The percentage proficient or advanced in math increased to 50.9 from 46.4.

The percentage of 11th-graders proficient or advanced in reading increased to 53 in 2006-07, from 50.9 in 2005-06. The percentage proficient or advanced in math increased to 43.9 from 40.2.

Scores of black students and white students have been improving, but black students are trailing as a group.

Asked what message he had for parents of black students, Mr. Roosevelt said, "Join us. Work with us. There is obviously great work to do."

In third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades combined, the disparity in reading scores between white and black students increased to 33.7 in 2006-07, from 30 percentage points in 2005-06. The disparity in math scores increased to 32.8 from 30.2 percentage points during that period.

The biggest reading proficiency gains, however, were posted by students in the district's older K-8 schools, and comprehensive middle schools moved more students to the advanced level in mathematics than other schools.