Last spring, Massachusetts high school sophomores took their first crack at the MCAS tests they need to pass in order to graduate. They did much better than expected, according to results released Monday.

Across the state, 82 percent of sophomores passed the English test and 75 percent passed in math. The results were an increase over last year’s scores by 16 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

“It’s a heartening set of numbers,” said Paul Reville, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform. “It’s a testimony to the fact that those who try to learn can reach the high level that Massachusetts has set.”

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Test (MCAS), first administered in 1998 but only required for graduation beginning with the class of 2003, has generated constant controversy since its inception.

Opponents have claimed that the test will force teachers to “teach to the test” and might unfairly hold students from graduating.

But according to Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll, who released the results at a State House press conference, the high passing rate has proved that students will learn the material if their graduation depends on it.

He predicted that Massachusetts and the MCAS—generally recognized as one of the most rigorous state tests—will become a national model for improving educational standards.

Controversy aside, school administrators across the state are happy to revel in the new numbers.

“I’m very pleased that scores throughout the Commonwealth increased,” said Bobbie J. D’Alessandro, Cambridge’s superintendent of schools. “I’m hoping that Cambridge scores will reflect that increase.”

Cambridge will receive its scaled results from the state sometime next week. The city’s public high school, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, has received limited raw test scores that administrators are using to see who is likely to need tutoring help, said Assistant Principal Caroline Hunter.

But not everyone is convinced that better test numbers mean better-educated children. Karen Hartke of Fair Test, a Cambridge organization that has led opposition to the MCAS in the past, said that she feels concern over the test detracts from the traditional classroom experience.

“Speak to any teachers in the district and they’ll say the majority of our time is spent thinking about how to raise test scores,” said Hartke. “For them the stakes are high.”

And even those who support goals of the test are hesitant to give it their full endorsement.

“I believe that the MCAS has been an valuable aid,” D’Alessandro said. “But I don’t want it to be the only requirement for graduation.”

Hartke is even more critical, saying the heavy focus now placed on math and English comes at the expense of other subject areas

“It’s narrowing the vision of what education should be,” she said.

For those members of the class of 2003, the impact of the test is much more direct: those who failed must pass before graduation. They will be allowed four retests before the end of their senior year.

—Staff writer Zachary R. Heineman can be reached at heineman@fas.harvard.edu.