Despite another year of progress on the state reading and math tests, the Pittsburgh Public Schools missed many of the proficiency goals Superintendent Mark Roosevelt set three years ago in launching his "Excellence for All" campaign.

Mr. Roosevelt yesterday released the district's preliminary scores from the 2009 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.

The reading and math tests are given in the spring statewide to public school students in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. The state will release data for all districts next month; Mr. Roosevelt chose to release Pittsburgh's scores now to highlight district progress.

"This year, we are happy to say the district continued to make substantial progress in student achievement at almost all grade levels," he told a gathering of employees and civic leaders at Pittsburgh Sunnyside K-8 in Stanton Heights.

The percentage of students scoring advanced or proficient increased on all tests except 11th-grade math and third-grade math and reading. Scores are rated in four categories: advanced, proficient, basic and below basic.

The biggest jumps came in fifth grade. In reading, the percentage scoring advanced or proficient increased to 52, up from 42.6 last year, while in math, the percentage scoring advanced or proficient increased to 63.4, up from 58.2.

Mr. Roosevelt said he was not optimistic that the district improved enough to meet the federal performance standard, known as adequate yearly progress. The district already has missed AYP six years in a row.

In addition, most of the new scores fell below the 2009 goals Mr. Roosevelt set three years ago when he launched "Excellence for All," a campaign for academic and financial improvement.

For example, in 2006, Mr. Roosevelt said he wanted at least 80 percent of third-graders to score proficient or advanced in reading by this year. Yesterday's figures showed that 62.3 percent of third-graders scored advanced or proficient in reading, down from 64.1 percent last year.

In 2006, Mr. Roosevelt said he wanted at least 71 percent of fifth-graders to score advanced or proficient in reading and math by this year. He fell short by 19 percentage points in reading and 7.6 in math.

Mr. Roosevelt didn't mention the goals during his presentation--a celebration of the district's progress with special recognition for high-performing schools and exemplary staff members. In an interview later, he said the goals in "Excellence for All" represented an elusive mix of feasibility and aspiration.

"They were heavy on the aspiration," Mr. Roosevelt said.

Mr. Roosevelt did make some of the goals he set three years ago.

The percentage of eighth-graders scoring advanced or proficient in reading this year reached 71.4, 2.4 percentage points higher than his goal. The district moved more fifth-graders into the advanced math category and more eighth-graders into the advanced math and reading categories than Mr. Roosevelt had hoped in 2006.

The district also moved more eighth-graders out of below basic in math than Mr. Roosevelt had hoped.

Mr. Roosevelt said progress on this school year's test built on "substantial" progress made last year and "modest" progress in 2007.

Among other factors, he attributed the gains to new curricula, a principal training program and teacher training.

At Pittsburgh Montessori PreK-8 in Friendship, the percentage of third-graders scoring advanced or proficient in reading increased to 79.4, up from 54.3 percent last year, while the percentage scoring below basic fell from 28.6 percent last year to 11.8 percent this year.

"We worked very hard to meet both ends of the spectrum," reading coach Leah Dorsey-Davidson said, citing the benefits of small-group instruction.

When parents at Pittsburgh Liberty K-5 in Shadyside complained that their children weren't challenged enough, Principal Barbara Soroczak ratcheted up writing and reading comprehension.

The percentage of fifth-graders scoring advanced or proficient in reading increased to 83.1, up from 54 last year, while the percentage scoring advanced increased to 47.5, up from 26 last year.

At Pittsburgh Carrick High School, the percentage of 11th-graders scoring advanced or proficient in reading increased to 60.1, up from 45.8 last year, while the percentage of 11th-graders scoring advanced or proficient in math increased to 48.3, up from 47.

Reading coach Patrick Schlemmer praised the leadership of Principal Jennifer Murphy, including phone calls she made to students' homes to get students in school and ensure 100 percent test participation.

"We were motivated to raise our game to match her efforts," he said.

With the exception of schools Mr. Roosevelt chose to highlight, results for individual schools were not provided yesterday. He said that data will be presented at the school board's Aug. 11 education committee meeting.

Mr. Roosevelt said the scores showed that:

• The district is making progress in eliminating the racial achievement gap.

• Accelerated learning academies are outperforming other schools in certain categories, such as percentage of students moved to reading proficiency.

• Low reading and math scores in 11th grade signal the pressing need for overhaul of district high schools.