Georgia education officials on Thursday released the first of what will be a string of summer test results, most showing that Georgia students have improved slightly over last year in key subject areas.

The preliminary results from the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test show scores at the state level in grades three through seven. Scores went up in 23 content areas, stayed the same in five and decreased in two.

"I am encouraged that the CRCT results show many more of our students mastering a more rigorous curriculum," Georgia Schools Superintendent John Barge said in a news release. "The credit for these tremendous results goes back to the local level, where they have raised the bar for all students."

District-level results showing how North Georgia systems performed on the tests will be available by June 22, said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education. School-level results will be available by July 6.

Students who do not meet or exceed standards the first time they take the tests in the spring may retake them during the summer. Those results will be available after school starts in the fall.

Thursday's release shows that 96 percent of eighth-graders passed the reading portion of the CRCT. That's an increase of one point over the previous year and seven points since Georgia overhauled its curriculum in 2006. Among fifth-graders, 91 percent passed the reading portion of the test and there was a 10-point increase in the number of students exceeding the standard.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students increased their math scores by four points each, going from 85 to 89 percent and 74 to 78 percent, respectively.

The percentage of sixth-graders scoring at or above grade level in English/language arts took a slight dip, from 92 percent last year to 91 percent this year, and fourth-grade reading went from 89 to 88 percent.