The Spring 2012 MCAS scores are in.

With a turnaround effort in effect since Bentley was designated as a Level 4 school last year, the scores this year are of particular interest to Salem Public Schools stakeholders.

Here's a breakdown of how Salem did. Stay tuned to Salem Patch for more on this topic.

For complete information from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education click here.

• In English — 53 percent of student were ranked proficient or higher (10 percent were ranked in the advanced category and 34 percent in proficient) while 31 percent were ranked as needs improvement and 16 percent were in the warning/failing category. In 2011 for English, the rankings in the advanced, proficient, needs improvement and warning/failing categories were 8 percent, 46 percent, 31 percent and 14 percent respectively.

• In Math — 43 percent of students were ranked as proficient or higher (17 percent were ranked in the advanced category and 26 percent in proficient) while 30 percent were ranked as needs improvement and 27 percent were in the warning/failing category. These numbers were approximately the same as the 2011 numbers.

• In Science — 37 percent of students were ranked proficient or higher (9 percent were ranked in the advanced category and 28 percent in the proficient category) while 42 percent were ranked as needs improvement and 21 percent were in the warning/failing category. There was no science ranking in 2011.

Looking at Progress

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 mandates that every student be proficient in English language arts and math by 2014. In Massachusetts, this proficiency is measured by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS).

A school must improve in proficiency each year based on adequate yearly progress (AYP). In Massachusetts, AYP is determined by student performance on various parts of the MCAS.

In Student Growth Percentile, the district went up in English -- 46 percent from 44 percent in 2011. It also went up in math -- 46 percent from 44 percent in 2011.

In the Cumulative Performance Index (a measurement used to calculate AYP but is being phased out for the Student Growth Percentile) the district went down in English -- 78.5 percent in 2011 to 77.2 percent in 2012. It went up slightly in math from 68.8 percent in 2011 to 69 percent in 2012. The Cumulative Performance index in science for 2012 was 68.1 percent.

Other Highlights

• In all subjects and in all grades, the percentage of Salem students in the proficient or higher categories were below the state percentage. The percentage of students in the failing category in Salem exceeded the state percentage for every grade and subject except for 10th grade science.

• Overall, 10th grade saw the most successful results in the district with a percentage of at least 50 percent or more in the proficient or above ranking in every subject. A total of 77 percent were in the proficient or above category for English Language Arts.

• Only 26 percent of Salem Public Schools students were in the proficient or higher ranking for science in the 10th grade. This grade level and subject also had the smallest percentage of student in the proficient or higher level statewide.

• The highest percentage of students in the warning/failing category for Salem was in 7th grade math.

• At Bentley, which is currently designated as a level 4 school, the highest achievement was in 5th grade English Language Arts with 36 percent of students in the proficient or higher ranking, though the state percentage was 61 percent.

• The math scores for the 5th grade were the lowest performing area at Bentley with 40 percent of student in the warning or failing category compared to the state's 17 percent.