The Mississippi Department of Education has released the results of testing of public elementary and middle school students on new state tests for language arts and mathematics.

The MCT2 test was administered to students in third through eighth grades for the first time in the spring.

The federal No Child Left Behind law requirements seek grade-level proficiency for all students by 2014.

State scores show the majority of Mississippi students in third through eighth grades are proficient in language arts and mathematics.

Schools aren’t ranked as levels 1 through 5 this year. Instead, the scores will serve as a baseline, and the Department of Education still is working on a system for naming school achievement rankings.