PEABODY — An oversight discovered on MCAS scoring boosted Peabody High's overall performance and gave six students a passing mark.

"It's a big change for those kids and their families," Principal Edward Sapienza said. "They're looking forward to graduation."

Assistant Superintendent Joseph Mastrocola found the discrepancy when poring over scores and alerted high school leaders about the problem, Sapienza said.

The principal believed that 10 students left blank an unscored sample essay at the beginning of the exam, but completed the rest of test. The state, however, in finding the first section empty, marked the students absent.

Peabody Public Schools appealed the scores. Of the 10 tests, six students scored high enough to pass the test as "needs improvement." Their passing marks also pushed up Peabody High's overall scores in English.

"Suddenly, they get their scores back," the principal said, explaining the significance of the error being caught. "It's not like they can't go to the college of their choice. This is, you're not graduating from high school."

Had the discrepancy gone unnoticed, the students would have been forced to retake the test, leaving their diploma further out of reach.

Mastrocola chalked up the find to "due diligence" and called it "great news" for the six students. The assistant superintendent gave credit to the teachers who helped the students reach the passing mark in the first place.

"The teachers did all the work up there," he said. "They're the ones doing all the work to move the school off the designated list and make (Adequate Yearly Progress.)"