LITTLE ROCK – The state Department of Education says that more than 60 percent of Arkansas students scored at or above proficient on both the math and literacy state benchmark tests.

The tests were administered in April to 209,000 third- through eighth-graders. The state says the percentile scores in most areas were slighter higher than last year.

Math and literacy results are used to determine school-improvement status under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

But less than half of tested students were proficient in science. The state says that 43 percent of fifth-graders and 33 percent of seventh graders tested at or above proficient in science.

Interim education commission Diana Julian says the state is pleased with the progress in the math and literacy exams, and that she expects improvement in the students’ science scores.