Bermuda?s public school pupils? reading, mathematics and language skills have improved somewhat since 1999/2000 ? but are still below the average of 50 percent.

This is one of the main findings of the results of the past year?s Terra Nova exams.

The results also reveal that while skills had increased since the first Terra Nova exams in 2000 at primary school level, the average score of the public school student drops in Middle School and remains almost constantly below the 40 percent rank in all three areas for both M1 and M2.

The Terra Nova results, as published in this week, are an international standard which the Ministry of Education uses to ensure Bermuda is keeping up with the rest of the world.

This international exam actually shows how children of a particular age and grade levels fare in comparison with children of the same age and grade level form the United States. However, the Ministry is only using Terra Nova results from 1999/2000 and 2004/2005 because these were the only two school years where test administration rules had not changed or were not followed consistently.

Senior Education Officer Craig Nikolai said while Bermuda?s public schools were doing better now in most subjects and at most year levels than they were in 2000, the achievement and participation of both middle and senior year levels were progressing at a less than acceptable rate.

Dr. Nikolai agreed that the sudden drop in ratings from P6 to M1 ? in mathematics by almost 30 percent ? was a cause for concern and something the Ministry would be looking into.

In Terra Nova reading, student achievement increased at all year levels from P3 to S1, but S2 year level results decreased by 6.6 percent from 43.3 percent to 36.7 percent.

The most notable increase came in P6 with an increase of 12.3 percent from 37.8 percent in 2000 to 50.1 percent last year.

In Terra Nova language, student achievement once again increased at all year levels from P3 to S1, but again S2 year level saw a 1.2 percent decrease from 40.4 percent to 39.2 percent.

The most noticeable increase was again seen at P6 level with an increase from 32.2 percent to 51.3 percent ? an increase of 19.1 percent.

In Terra Nova mathematics, student achievement increased at all year levels from P3 to S1, but S2 once again showed a decrease of 10.9 percent from 37.5 percent to 26.6 percent and P6 had the greatest increase from 33 percent to 61.8 percent.

Levels P3 to P6 were the only years to be on par with children of the same age and grade level in the United States with an average of between 50.3 percent and 63.6 percent in the three areas.