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Third graders in Montgomery's public schools did not do as well as last year on state reading exams, according to test scores released Tuesday.

Countywide, according to the 2010 Maryland State Assessment, the percentage of third graders who scored proficient or higher dropped from 88.9 to 87.4. That's the largest decline of any grade and subject measured by the exams, which test third through eighth grade in reading and math.

The scores for two other groups also dropped; all others either increased or held steady. The percentage of seventh graders who scored proficient or higher on reading declined from 88.8 to 88.5 and the percentage of fourth graders who scored proficient or higher on math declined from 91.1 to 91.

Dana Tofig, spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools, said the school system will be looking at specific schools and teachers that fell behind, but he does not believe any of the declines require a shift in strategy. Instead, successful teachers will be asked to share their techniques with struggling schools and teachers.

"One of the reasons we've seen steady gains over the years, and one of the ways we've seen these achievement gaps closed is that we've had a plan, and we've stuck to it," he said. "... Ultimately, we have a strategic plan, and we're staying on that strategic plan. It provides some consistency."

Calls to school administration officials responsible for testing and academic achievement were not returned Tuesday.

Tofig said parents should look at the performance of their children's school as well as individual scores.

"If they see that the scores in their child's school went down, they need to talk to their principal," he said.

Tofig said Montgomery's schools and grades don't often see huge improvements from year to year, because they are already ahead of many others on MSA scores.

Some county schools lagging

While the county as a whole is ahead of statewide scores, Forest Oak Middle School in Gaithersburg and Neelsville Middle School in Germantown are among those on a state watch list of schools in need of improvement. Prior to this year, both had failed to make adequate progress four years in a row, putting them in at the bottom of county schools on the list. Neelsville Middle met its target scores this year, and will come off the state list of troubled schools if it does so again next year.

The disparity between county averages and scores at Neelsville Middle and Forest Oak Middle were greatest in eighth grade math. At Forest Oak Middle, 53.2 percent of eighth graders scored proficient or higher on the math test, compared with 75.1 percent of the county's eighth graders. At Neelsville Middle, 59 percent of eighth graders achieved proficiency.

One county school, Parkland Middle in Rockville, earned high enough scores this year to come off the state list of schools needing improvement.

In all, 103 of the county's 131 public elementary schools and 22 of the 38 public middle schools met testing goals, according to the school system. Last year, 127 of 130 elementary schools and 26 out of 38 middle schools achieved the targets, Tofig said. The reason for the decline is that the target scores increased this year, he said.