More Louisiana students failed the high-stakes LEAP test this year than in 2003, an increase education officials partially blamed Friday on new, higher passing standards for fourth-graders and the new testing of thousands more special education students.

But in Concordia Parish, Superintendent Kerry Laster said the first scores she saw were encouraging.

&uot;Several of the principals called me and were very pleased with what they had,&uot; Laster said.

Still, no scores for Concordia Parish were released Friday. Laster said the district was reviewing the district’s LEAP and GEE test scores Friday and plans to issue them Monday to students.

Laster said the priority is to go through the seniors’ scores before graduation.

She said the district won’t release results until &uot;we’ve got everything and got it right.&uot;

Laster said Iowa test scores should arrive May 14.

When it came to LEAP scores statewide, the boost in the number of failing students fell squarely on fourth-graders.

The number of eighth-graders who failed dropped 4 percent, by more than 1,900 students.

The fourth-grade failure rate grew dramatically &045;&045; increasing by 12 percent or more than 6,200 students, according to test results released Friday by the state Department of Education.

Education officials said the fourth-grade decline was expected, and they remained optimistic, pointing to statistics that showed students are performing better on the test, officially known as the Louisiana Education Assessment Program exam, than they did in 2000 when high-stakes testing began.

&uot;We raised the bar. We expected more … We are still way ahead of where we started,&uot; said state Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard at a news conference outlining the scores.

The failure rate for fourth-graders still would have been higher without the special education and passing standard changes, however.

The tests, taken in the spring, measure abilities in English, math, science and social studies. About 103,000 students took the test this year.

Of those, more than 29,900 did not pass one or both of either the English or math portions.