Officials with Floyd County and Rome City Schools said they see some gains and areas where improvement needs to be made after the release of end-of-course test scores by the state.

Testing covers economics, biology, math I, math II, American literature, U.S. history, and ninth grade literature and composition.

Rome High School posted gains in the number of students meeting or exceeding the standard in all tests, except for economics, which dropped from 67.6 percent in 2011 to 59.8 percent in 2012, and ninth grade literature and composition, which fell less than one percentage point from 84.2 in 2011 percent to 83.7 percent in 2012.

Rome Superintendent Gayland Cooper said he was pleased with the results and noted the largest gain was in math II, with 59.8 percent of students meeting or exceeding the standard in 2012 compared with 50.2 percent in 2011.

“I’m encouraged because our students and teachers are working hard,” said Cooper. “Incremental gains are being made and that’s encouraging at Rome High. I’m pleased with that.”

He referred to the subject of economics as the “black sheep” of the test and expressed his wish to bring the 67.6 percent of meeting or exceeding up into the 80th percentile.

“That’s a tough area, and we’re going to change up what we’re doing next year with economics,” said Cooper.

In unincorporated Floyd County, biology was the weakest test for schools, with only Armuchee High posting an improvement from 87 percent of students meeting or exceeding the standard in 2011 to 87.3 percent in 2012.

Tim Hensley, assistant to the superintendent of Floyd County Schools, said the results are useful because they help to point out where adjustments are needed in instruction.

All Floyd County high schools showed improvement on math I scores.

“All of our high schools had a significant jump of nine or more points in that particular area,” said Hensley. “With math I and math II being topics of discussion statewide, we’re still in transition on how math is taught and the best format for it.”

Armuchee High, Model High and Pepperell High posted large gains in U.S. history, with Pepperell High recording the largest improvement on the combined tests. In 2011, 49.1 percent of Pepperell High students met or exceeded the standard, and in 2012 that number jumped to 72.3 percent.

“The good news is that we’re closing the gap,” said Hensley. “We’re trending upwards in areas that are behind the state.”