PORTLAND — Middle and high school students across Oregon aren’t improving on state tests in math and reading, new data from the Oregon Department of Education show.

Elementary school students continue to do well in both subjects, suggesting that despite plenty of focus on the issue, Oregon hasn’t been able to do much to stem the testing drop-off as students get older.

The issue takes on special consequence with this year’s entering ninth graders, the first class expected to fulfill tougher course requirements for graduation.

There was a bright spot for Oregon’s older students on the writing portion: Fifty-six percent of last year’s 10th graders met state standards, the highest of any age group. Just 43 percent of fourth graders met that threshold, and 50 percent of seventh graders.

The margins were flipped, though, in reading and math. Eighty-three percent of the state’s fourth graders passed state tests in reading, compared with just 65 percent of 10th graders and 74 percent of 7th graders.

And in math, 77 percent of fourth graders passed the state’s tests, a significant jump from just 71 percent last year, while 10th grade results declined — from a 55 percent passing rate in the 2006-2007 school year to a 52 percent rate last year.

Some of the bleakest results came from the state’s alternative high schools, where at-risk students are sent after they’ve failed or dropped out of traditional high schools.

 At Albany Options school, for instance, just 8.3 percent of the 10th graders hit a passing score on state math tests.

A few high schools did achieve outstanding results, particularly those that offer advanced curriculums, like an International Baccalaureate program.

About 95 percent of students at the International School of the Cascades in Redmond passed the state tests in math and reading, for example.

Some school officials said they’d been motivated by the previous year’s results to focus on weak areas, with gratifying results.

The Jane Goodall Environmental Middle Charter School in Salem, for example, was one of just three schools in the state where more than 95 percent of students passed the state writing test.

The school is science-focused, said administrator Lonnie Wolf, but teachers there put an enormous emphasis on writing, from asking students to read aloud their compositions to better hear the ebb and flow of their words to requiring strong writing even on science reports.

In some schools, there’s exasperation with the extensive requirements of standardized testing. John Nesemann, the principal at Wallowa High School — whose eighth graders did beautifully on the state math tests, but whose 10th graders were below the state average — said his teachers now spend eight weeks out of the school year preparing for tests, administering them, or having their students retake the standardized, online exams.

“I think (test scores) are overtrumped, misfocusing education,” Nesemann said. “I care much more about each kid as a human being and their personal growth.”

Last year was also the first time students across the state took a state-standardized science test. About three-quarters of all 5th graders passed it but only 57 percent of all 10th graders did.

The Department of Education also released extra data on the class of 2012, last year’s 8th graders, who will be the first subject to the tough new diploma requirements, which include either passing the state tests, a national standardized test or completing a senior project.

That data shows that minority groups from the class of 2012, particularly Hispanic students, are scoring far below the statewide average for 8th graders on math and reading tests.

“Unless schools and districts across the state take bold action to address barriers to student success, I am concerned about what may happen to the class of 2012 and beyond,” schools Superintendent Susan Castillo said in a statement.

The reading and math tests are given at grades three through eight and at grade 10; writing tests are given at fourth, seventh, and 10th grades.

Students take the tests online, and get up to three chances to take the reading and math portions; teachers can receive immediate results to help pinpoint areas in which students need help.