New Brunswick reading scores improved in the latest provincial assessments released on Tuesday, but students' marks in writing and math continue to falter.

New Brunswick test scores in the major subjects have routinely ranked among the lowest in Canada and the release of the provincial assessments demonstrated only marginal improvement.

The one bright spot in the otherwise humdrum set of test results turned out to be reading scores.

Of the 3,706 Grade 2 students in the English program, 82 per cent hit the appropriate achievement level in reading, a jump of 6.1 percentage points from 2008.

Meanwhile, 79 per cent of the 4,127 Grade 4 students in the English program exceeded the appropriate level in reading, an improvement of 4.5 percentage points.

Despite the improvements in reading, the latest scores fail to hit the Department of Education's stated objective of having 90 per cent of students reading at an appropriate level.

Math, French immersion scores slipping

Even with the stronger reading numbers, the province's students are scoring worse in math.

The provincial assessments showed 59.4 per cent of the 5,615 Grade 5 math students met or surpassed the appropriate achievement level, a decline of almost six percentage points from 2008.

The marks didn't get any better when the province assessed Grade 2 and 4 French immersion students.

Eighty-five per cent of the 1,377 Grade 2 students enrolled in the French immersion program hit the provincial target level in reading, an increase of 1.8 per cent.

However, when the same students were marked on their writing capabilities, only 76 per cent of those students achieved the provincial level in writing, a decrease of 8.1 percentage points from 2008.

And among the 1,262 Grade 4 students in French immersion, 71 per cent scored an appropriate mark in reading, a decline of 4.9 percentage points from 2008. On their writing tests, 66 per cent met the appropriate level, another decrease of five percentage points.

Karen Branscombe, the superintendent of District 2, which covers schools in the Moncton area, said the district will have to figure out which teaching methods work and which need more work to improve the French immersion scores.

"We are going through that data and looking at, you know, did one or two schools impact the data [or] is it a trend across the district," Branscombe said.