PROVIDENCE — Nearly 80 percent of the state’s 11th graders cannot do the math expected of them, a painful fact state officials revealed yesterday at a news conference to release the first year of state test scores under a new system that demands more from students.

Just 22 percent of juniors scored proficient on the math portion of the New England Common Assessment Program, which 11,600 students took in October. Although the math results were dismal, education officials said the new test, which focuses on algebra and geometry skills, provides a far more accurate and honest measure of students’ abilities than previous tests.

While the new math scores are substantially lower than previous years, reading and writing scores remain steady. Statewide, 61 percent of students were proficient in reading and 37 percent in writing on the new tests, which Rhode Island developed with educators in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Math also proved a problem for Vermont and New Hampshire students, with less than 30 percent of students proficient in each state. In New Hampshire, 67 percent of students were proficient in reading, 28 percent in math and 33 percent in writing. Vermont will formally release its scores next month.

A closer look at the math results in Rhode Island is even more distressing. Fifty-one percent of the students that took the test missed proficiency by a wide margin and were classified as “significantly below proficient,” the lowest possible achievement level. Another 27 percent were only “partially proficient.” And just 1 percent — 123 students — achieved the highest level, “proficient with distinction.”

Some high schools, particularly in urban areas, reported proficiency rates as low as 3, 2, even 1 percent, a troubling indication of the low level of math instruction occurring in those schools and the weak preparation many low-income and minority students receive in elementary and middle school.

“I think we’ve always known the greatest challenge would be improving our high schools,” said Governor Carcieri, who announced the results alongside state education leaders. “Unfortunately, many of the concerns and predictions have been confirmed. These results are disappointing to us, but not surprising.”

Carcieri announced plans to address the problem, including having state education officials evaluate math curriculum, and holding a “mathematics summit” this spring of educators from high schools and local colleges. He is also considering requiring teachers to take a “high stakes test” in their subject area and schools to develop “personal math plans” for students similar to the literacy plans used to boost reading skills.

Peter McWalters, state commissioner for elementary and secondary education, said the troubling results are not the fault of students, but rather a breakdown in the education system, and will require a change in the way math is taught from kindergarten through high school.

Weak math skills are a national problem, McWalters said. Nationally, just 23 percent of 12th graders scored proficient on a rigorous national math exam, The National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Rhode Island’s low scores are not a sign that students failed, McWalters said. “They show that students never got presented the content,” he said. “It requires changing the mindset, the skill set, the expectations and the culture in secondary schools and the teaching culture.”

LAST YEAR, 43 percent of juniors scored proficient in math on the old test, the New Standards Reference Exam. But that test included basic skills, giving students credit for easier concepts, said Mary Ann Snider, who helped develop the test for the state Education Department. The new test is harder and designed to assess students on “what they should be learning in ninth and tenth grades,” Snider said.

Officials pointed to three main problems contributing to the weak math scores.

Problems in math start well before high school, with many students falling further behind each year, and often there are few supports to help them.

In high school, too few students have access to rigorous algebra and geometry classes as freshmen and sophomores. Instead, thousands of struggling students are channeled into “math-to-nowhere classes,” as one education official calls them, where they are never taught key algebraic and geometric concepts, or the data, statistics and probability skills math teachers say all students should know before graduating high school.

And many school districts do not have high-quality math programs or enough teachers adequately trained to teach the courses. More than half of the state’s 58 high schools have still not integrated the state’s grade-level expectations in all subjects that were rolled out several years ago.

Yesterday, Carcieri and state education officials defended the test, saying it wasn’t setting an unrealistic standard beyond the ability of high school students.

Rhode Island teachers who helped design the test with their counterparts in Vermont and New Hampshire were dismayed by the low proficiency rates, Carcieri said. “They asked the question, is there something wrong with our standard?” he said. “The teachers themselves, after a lot of soul searching, decided no, these tests are a valid assessment of what should be achieved. It’s not too high.”

Not surprisingly, students in wealthy suburbs received the highest scores. But even there, math scores were significantly lower than reading. At Barrington High School, just 63 percent of students scored proficient in math, compared with 90 percent proficient in English. At the next highest scoring school, East Greenwich High, just 54 percent scored proficient in math; 88 percent in reading.

SOME HIGH SCHOOL principals pointed out this year’s 11th graders — and their teachers — have been exposed to the more rigorous expectations for only a few years and that the new test is significantly tougher than previous tests.

“I see this as a starting point,” said Robert Littlefield, principal of Portsmouth High School, where students scored about 37 percent proficient in math, 81 percent in reading and about 57 percent in writing. “My 11th graders have not had the benefit of access to a more rigorous curriculum and instruction for very long.”

Two years ago, Portsmouth eliminated all “general” and “basic” math courses and reassigned some math teachers to double class periods of algebra to offer extra support to lagging students.

“I regret that this year’s juniors did not benefit from that,” Littlefield said. “General math is a thing of the past. We were shortchanging our students by not giving them access to the rigorous curriculum. I have to tell you, I wish I could [offer double-period math courses] across the math curriculum.”

Struggling students can receive extra math help after school and on Saturday mornings, said Nkolika Onye, principal of the Providence Academy of International Studies, who wishes she could also offer double blocks of math.

One of the biggest challenges in Providence is the lack of a core curriculum and problems integrating the new standards into the classroom, Onye said. Another is changing and improving the way teachers teach math. Just one junior out of 79 scored proficient in math at Onye’s school.

“We know we have an issue in our mathematics — that is clear,” Onye said. “We have to find a way to ensure we have the best possible teachers in our classrooms instructing our students.”