By Allison Ross-Ferrelli

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Palm Beach County high school students fared slightly better than the state average on end-of-course examinations in geometry and biology, according to results released Thursday .

End-of-course exams are being phased in as replacements for FCATs in several high school classes, as the state gradually moves away from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for math and language arts by 2015.

Last year, an Algebra I test was the first end-of-course exam to be given. Next year, the state will debut a U.S. History end-of-course test.

Because this is the first year for the geometry and biology tests, the state has not yet set achievement and passing levels for it. Those are expected to be set this fall.

Instead, the scores were reported by the percentage of students who scored in the highest, middle and lowest thirds.

For geometry, 36 percent of Palm Beach County students scored in the highest third, 30 percent in the middle and 34 percent in the lowest.

By comparison, 34 percent, 31 percent and 35 percent of students statewide scored in those brackets, respectively.

For biology, 37 percent of county students were in the top third, compared with 35 percent statewide. In the middle third were 29 percent of county students, down slightly from 31 percent statewide. And both Palm Beach County and the state reported 34 percent of students in the bottom third.

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Palm Beach County students top state average in biology, geometry end-of-course exams