State Education Officials Announce New Exam Results
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
By: Nicole Creston

June 08, 2011 | WMFE - Algebra I students on average got only 41 percent of the answers correct on Florida's first statewide end-of-course exam. State education officials say that score is not as low as it may sound.

The state announced the results of the new computerized, standardized Algebra I test Wednesday. Education Commissioner Eric Smith said student scores in other states have averaged as low as the teens on their first end-of-course exams, well below Florida’s 41 percent.

The state doesn’t have an official grading scale for the new test yet, so students are getting a rating of high, medium, or low based on how they compare to their test-taking peers. On average in Central Florida, students in Orange, Volusia and Osceola counties scored just below the state mean, results show. Seminole County scored just above.

This first end-of-course exam marks an end to the state’s reliance on a single exam – the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test – as an accountability measure at the high school level. Biology and geometry end-of-course tests will be added next year. The tests make up 30 percent of students’ class grades. A passing grade on each end-of-course exam will be required to graduate.