Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt, skewered since 2005 for closing and reorganizing schools, released test scores yesterday indicating the district is making an academic turnaround after all.

The district improved overall math and reading scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests -- by wide margins in some grades. In reading, math or both tests in various grades, the district also decreased the percentage of bottom-scoring students, increased the percentage of top-scoring students and narrowed the racial achievement gap.

"This year, in 2007-08, the district made substantial progress, significant progress, in raising student achievement at all levels, across the board," Mr. Roosevelt told staff members and civic leaders during a celebration at Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Downtown.

He praised the district's eight accelerated learning academies, which opened in 2006-07, saying they posted proficiency gains 2.5 times greater than the district average in reading and 1.4 times the district average in math.

"We may crow a little about that," Mr. Roosevelt said. Critics have questioned whether the schools -- with a longer school day, extended year and special curriculum supplements -- are working.

It was one of Mr. Roosevelt's happier moments since joining the troubled district. He attributed the gains to a new curriculum, use of student data to fine-tune instruction and improved training for teachers and principals.

The scores gave him an opportunity to divert attention from high-profile debates over school buildings to what he said "really matters."

Some residents still lament Mr. Roosevelt's round of school closings in 2005-06. He's faced additional criticism for closing the Pittsburgh Schenley High School building last month and for spearheading a merger of the middle-grade and high school arts magnets in 2009.

A key critic has been school board member Mark Brentley Sr., who said at Wednesday's legislative meeting that he had "zero confidence in this administration." Mr. Brentley last night said he couldn't comment on the scores because Mr. Roosevelt, unlike other superintendents, doesn't brief board members before holding "big splashes and PR events."

Board members were invited to the presentation, but Mr. Brentley was unable to attend.

George Gensure, a member of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers' executive board, said the scores will give a morale boost to union members who are "feeling stretched" because of Mr. Roosevelt's many changes the past three school years.

Regina Holley, principal of Pittsburgh Lincoln K-8 and president of Pittsburgh Administrators Association, said she was pleased to hear Mr. Roosevelt say progress had been made at traditionally low-performing schools.

That included Pittsburgh Westinghouse High School in Homewood. Over the past three school years, Mr. Roosevelt said, Westinghouse has posted the best proficiency gains in 11th-grade reading and second-best gains in 11th-grade math citywide.

The district did not provide test results for individual schools; officials said they would be provided to principals Aug. 4 and to the public after that.

The gains likely won't be strong enough for the district to meet the federal achievement standard called "adequate yearly progress" or AYP. The district has missed AYP for five consecutive years, a point that drives home the seriousness of its troubles and underscores the work still to be done.

For example, the percentage of sixth-graders scoring proficient or advanced in reading on the 2008 PSSA was 45.9 percent. To make AYP in reading, the district and schools must have 63 percent proficient or advanced.

But Mr. Roosevelt was happy to bask in the progress yesterday and to encourage the community to stand with him as the work continues.

The district increased math proficiency in grade 11 and grades three through eight, all of the levels tested by the PSSA. The district increased reading proficiency in grades three through eight.

The percentage of eighth-graders scoring proficient or advanced in reading jumped to 66.2 percent, up from 57.4 percent last school year, and the percentage of 11th-graders scoring proficient or advanced in math jumped to 52.5 percent, up from 43.9 percent.

The district made progress in moving students out of "below basic" -- the lowest performance category on the PSSA -- and into other categories.

The percentage of below-basic readers dropped in grades three through five and in grades seven and eight; the percentage of below-basic math students dropped in grades three through five and in grades seven, eight and 11.

Mr. Roosevelt said the results in most grades showed continued progress in eliminating the racial achievement gap.

Lisa Fischetti, chief of staff, said the scores also showed that the district's better students are benefiting from Mr. Roosevelt's improvement initiatives.

The percentage of students scoring advanced in math increased in all seven grade levels tested by the PSSA, and the percentage of students scoring advanced in reading increased in all but third and sixth grades.