The latest round of standardized test scores that were released by state officials today -- which show some academic gains as well as some room for improvement at local campuses -- has generated a wide range of reactions from Southwest County school district officials.

Murrieta is a little disappointed, Lake Elsinore is excited, Menifee is cautiously optimistic and Temecula is feeling proud, said officials from the respective districts.

The scores are considered very important by educators because they help determine whether the school districts will measure up on state and federal academic report cards. Those results are scheduled to be released later this month.

The scores released today are the results of the California Standards Test administered last spring to students in the second through 11th grades. The scores -- which are often referred to as the STAR, or California Standardized Testing and Reporting -- rank students as either "advanced," "proficient," "basic," "below basic" or "far below basic" in subjects including math, English, history and science. The state target is for students to score proficient or better.

In Southwest County, the Temecula Valley and Lake Elsinore unified school districts posted gains in fourth- and seventh-grade English scores and fourth-grade math scores, but dipped slightly in seventh-grade math and English scores.

The Menifee Union School District improved its fourth- and seventh-grade English and math scores, and the Murrieta Valley Unified School District showed gains in seventh- and 10th-grade English, but its fourth-grade English and math scores, as well as the seventh-grade math scores, decreased slightly.

But every Southwest County school district has students who rate below proficient in each subject and grade, and the fourth-, seventh and 10th-grade English and math scores are just a snapshot of the wide range of results officials are analyzing.

For example, even though Lake Elsinore showed some gains and dips in those five categories, educators there are very pleased with the overall districtwide results, said Doug Wells, coordinator of assessment and program evaluations for the district. That's because their analysis has found the test scores indicate that the district will show substantial improvement when state and federal officials release their assessments.

Specifically, Lake Elsinore district officials are anticipating, based on their test scores, that many of their campuses will post double-digit growth in their scores on the Academic Performance Index, the state's accountability gauge, he said.

What's more, the district is poised to meet the federal Adequate Yearly Progress goal as well, he said. Meeting the federal goal would be a big deal for Lake Elsinore because it is currently dubbed a "program improvement" district by the feds, meaning it has to improve its test scores or face various sanctions. The district must meet the federal academic goal for two consecutive years to be released from program improvement status.

Wells said it appears they are on their way.

"Lake Elsinore had a great year and we are expecting an even better one next year," he said. "We are very pleased with the way (the test scores) came in most cases. Overall, the district has continued to show growth."

Meanwhile, the Murrieta school district is facing a different scenario. While its test scores have traditionally ranked in the upper echelon in Riverside County and continue to do so, officials said they are concerned about dips in some scores.

"We're a bit disappointed," Guy Romero, the district's assistant superintendent of educational services, said of the latest round of test results. "We saw a little bit of a slide at nearly every school except for at Antelope Hills -- but the slides were not necessarily at every grade or every content area."

Nevertheless, he said, the district is bracing for a few of their campus API scores to drop a bit.

"When the principal and assistant principals and teachers (at some of the schools) saw what their test scores were, there were tears in teachers' eyes," Romero said. "No one is angry. We have to remain diligent, focus on the new mission statement, 'to inspire all students.'"

The Menifee school district, which posted several testing gains, is also looking to continue to improve on an upward trend in test scores, its officials said.

"It does help us to see we are moving in the right direction," said Karen Valdes, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the kindergarten through eighth-grade district.

She said her analysis of the district's test scores have found that many students have increased their proficiency levels in English and math. Specifically, second-, third-, fourth-, sixth- and seventh-graders have improved in English, and second-, fourth-, sixth- and seventh-graders have improved in math, she said.

The results indicate the district should show improved API scores this month, she said.

Likewise, the Temecula school district is anticipating that its API scores have gained ground because of strong showings on many of its test scores, said Superintendent Carol Leighty. She added that for the district to continue to improve even when its scores are already among the best in Riverside County says a lot about the district's educators.

"I am so proud of the whole staff," she said. "They all buckled down and worked really hard. It's a reflection of their commitment that we will never be complacent."

The Temecula district posted some of the best overall averages in the county, with more than half of its students earning proficient or advanced marks in English, math and science. None of the other districts in Southwest County were able to match those results.

Leighty said her plan to continue to improve the district's test scores includes proactively working to better involve parents in their child's educational process and introducing programs to the district to help struggling students.

Murrieta officials plan to zero in "with laser-light precision" on the areas that the test scores indicate need work to improve over this school year, Romero said.

"We are taking a look not only at the overall scores, we are also carefully looking at the subgroups and in particular looking at special ed and English-language learners and searching for newer and better ways to serve those students," he said.

Subgroups are categories of students such as minorities, students with disabilities and those from non-English backgrounds who are learning the language. State and federal officials watch their scores and monitor those groups' progress on tests as part of their academic accountability programs.

With that, how subgroups perform on standardized tests is something high on the priority list for local districts, whose officials said the issue remains something that teachers and administrators constantly work on, looking for ways to help those students learn better.

This year will be no exception, Southwest County school district officials said. Helping teachers collaborate and continuing to provide tutoring opportunities are also methods local administrators said they plan to use to help students improve on their scores.

On a statewide level, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said today that while California students are continuing to improve academically in most subjects and grades, according to the latest test results, there is room for improvement.

"This year's results offer both encouragement and reason for serious concern," O'Connell said in a prepared statement. "We can be pleased that gains in student achievement made over the past five years are either increasing or holding steady. This progress means that hundreds of thousands of California students will have a better shot at success. But the data also show the persistent achievement gaps in our system that California simply cannot afford to accept -- morally, economically, or socially."

Full reports for each district and its schools are available on the department's Web site, www.star.cde.ca.gov/star2007/.