Math proved to be the most difficult subject for North Shore 10th-graders on the 2010 MCAS test.
While a high number of students on the North Shore and across the state scored advanced or proficient on the math section of the annual assessment test, it is still the subject that trips up the most students.
At the region's 12 high schools, math had the highest failure rates at two-thirds of the schools.
All students must pass the 10th-grade math, English language arts, and science and technology sections of MCAS in order to graduate with their classes in 2012.
Salem has the highest hill to climb. Twenty percent of 10th-graders failed the math test given last spring, a dramatic increase over the 2009 results, when 13 percent failed, according to results released yesterday by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
"We'd like to see all of (the numbers) trending upward," Salem Superintendent William Cameron said. "That obviously didn't happen this year, at least in mathematics."
The 10th-grade math failure rate "is not as high as it was four years ago (i.e., 21 percent), but it's still unacceptable," Cameron said.
Peabody had an 8 percent failure rate for 10th-graders, while 7 percent failed the math section in Danvers and Beverly, which was the state average.
In both Peabody and Beverly, however, fewer students failed than a year ago.
Students get to retake sections they fail between now and graduation.
The state named 187 "Commendation Schools," which were cited for closing achievement gaps and showing academic growth in the 2010 MCAS. The commended schools in this area include Marblehead Middle School, Carroll and Center elementary schools in Peabody, Salem Academy Charter School, and Essex Agricultural and Technical High School.
Several high schools had good news in math. There was a higher percentage of 10th-graders scoring advanced, the highest rating, this year than last at Salem Academy and Beverly, Hamilton-Wenham, Ipswich, Marblehead and Swampscott high schools.
Area high schools generally had strong results in English language arts. More than 90 percent of students scored advanced or proficient at Masconomet, Marblehead and Hamilton-Wenham.
In science and technology, 10 percent of 10th-graders failed at Salem High, and 7 percent did not pass at Beverly and Peabody high schools. All of the students passed at Hamilton-Wenham and Ipswich high schools.
The two vocational schools fared relatively well.
North Shore Regional Vocational Technical School had strong results across the board with only 1 percent of 10th-graders failing in English language arts, 2 percent in science and technology, and 3 percent in math, lower than state averages in every sector.
Essex Aggie was even better, with no students failing English, 2 percent failing math, and 3 percent failing science and technology.
Cameron, the Salem superintendent, pointed out that the test results released to the media yesterday for his city were slightly different than results he saw on the website for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He found the discrepancy puzzling and said it made him hesitant to comment in more detail on Salem's scores.
"The fact they are different doesn't inspire confidence," he said.
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