More Clayton County students passed all of the high school graduation tests on their first try than last year, but the school district is still behind the state average.

Seventy percent of Clayton juniors passed the state-mandated Georgia High School Graduation Test last month, according to results released Monday. That's compared to the state average of 79 percent of juniors who passed on their first try.

Students will have another four chances to take the test before graduation, said Anthony Smith, Clayton's chief academic officer for secondary education.

Clayton County school officials said they will make some curriculum tweaks next year, but overall are pleased with students' performance.

"Our students did an exceptional job despite everything looming over their head at this difficult time," Smith said Monday. "In spite of what's going on, Clayton County students are closing the gap with the state."

Last year, 57 percent of Clayton juniors passed all of the test on their first try, which was 15-16 points behind the state average, Smith said. This year, the district is nine points behind.

For Jonesboro High School junior Joshua Penny, the graduation test was just another thing to add to the list of things he worries about, including acceptance to college, SATs, advanced placement exams and the district's accreditation.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools gave Clayton schools until Sept. 1 to meet nine mandates or be the first district to lose accreditation in the nation since 1969.

"I didn't think the test was hard," said Penny, a 16-year-old who hopes to attend Brown University. "But the SACS thing was always in the back of my head. It always is."

Penny passed all sections on his first try.

State Department of Education results show Clayton students went down in social studies and language arts, but improved in science scores. The district stayed the same in math scores.

Chandra Johnson, Clayton's executive director of research, evaluation and assessment, said the language arts and science scores can not be equally compared to last year's because the test was not aligned to the state curriculum. Students scores in those areas are expected to rise in future years because of curriculum changes.

Smith said he was pleased that the district's African-American students – which is about 75 percent of the student population – scored the same or above other African-American students across the state in all subjects except math.