PITTSFIELD — The school year at Pittsfield ended on a positive note with the news that fourth-graders at Vickery School scored high marks in tests conducted by the Maine Educational Assessment Program. Principal Charles Phillips discussed the scores at a School Board meeting Monday night.

Phillips was obviously pleased with increases in the test scores. The Vickery fourth-graders scored above state averages in four out of six subjects. All scores were above the test results from the previous year.

Phillips said the improvement could be credited to those who analyzed the test results from the previous year and provided direction in planning for this year. Pittsfield pupils showed a decided improvement in problem solving, an area addressed earlier as a weakness, by scoring a 60-point increase this year, 20 points above the state average.

Phillips emphasized that many variables affected the test scores, including support in the home and the careful recruitment of new staff.

The largest gain for the local pupils was in mathematics, where last year’s score was 200. That compared to a state average of 255. This year’s class scored 260 against the same state average. The score was at the top of the comparison band score that compares students in similar size schools and socio-economic backgrounds.

In other areas, students scored 265 in reading, up from 215 last year, compared to a state average of 250. In social studies, the local score was 270, up from 235 last year, compared to a state average of 250. In humanities, students scored 255 compared to last year’s 225 and a state average of 260. The science score was 275, up from 250 last year with a state average of 260.

The lowest score in the testing was in writing, but even that, Phillips pointed out, is an increase over the previous year’s score. The score was 235, well within the comparison band score, and up from last year’s 230. The state average in writing was 250.

Phillips also was pleased with the percentage of pupils scoring in the upper half of the test. He said that 16 students, the highest number to date, scored at or above the 95th percentile in testing in selected areas.

In reading, 26 percent of the class scored in the highest quarter and 25 percent in the third quarter; in writing, 18 percent in the highest quarter and 30 percent in the third quarter; in math, 24 percent in the highest and 22 percent in the third; in science, 32 percent in the highest and 21 percent in the third; in social studies, 26 percent in the highest and 32 percent in the third; in humanities, 26 percent in the highest and 20 percent in the third.

Phillips also reported briefly on the standard achievement test results that placed the fourth grade at or above national averages in basic skills testing.