It’s impossible to draw many conclusions about a single year’s academic test scores, but people will find reasons to smile or frown about them, anyway.

And it was largely the frowns that greeted school officials when they presented the yearly Strive HI report to the state Board of Education. The academic performance included slight drops in language arts and science scores. Better than a serious slide, but stagnation is never a favored state.

Hawaii had one of the earlier releases of math and language arts scores from the Smarter Balanced Assessment among school districts using the tests nationally, so it’s hard to know how they compare.

But there are some conclusions that can be drawn from the data assembled from the statewide assessments taken of public school students.

One is that while roughly half the students still fall short of proficiency, due partly to the numbers of students with “high needs,” those at the upper achievement levels are getting more chances to shine. More high school students are taking college courses and finishing career and technical education programs.

The aim should be for more of those at the lower end to be raised so they might graduate and pursue similar goals.

And perhaps the schools can learn from one another’s success. Amid a statewide dip in science scores, Jarrett Middle School raised its science proficiency to 61% from 34% over two years, despite low student income and other challenges. They must be doing something right.