Making the grade: Florida education leaders praise student test scores

By: Matt Papaycik

Florida education leaders are celebrating what they call "significant student growth and improvements" in the second year of statewide progress monitoring tests.

The Florida Department of Education on Monday released some of the results from the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) exams from the 2023/24 academic year.

According to the state, 53% of students tested in English language arts in grades 3-10 scored on or above grade level during the third round of progress monitoring exams at the end of the year, an increase of 4% from the same time the previous school year.

In addition, 55% of students tested in mathematics in all grades scored on or above grade level, a 4% increase from the year before.

Also seeing gains year-over-year were students in fifth and eighth grade science, as well as Biology 1, Algebra 1, and geometry students, and those taking U.S. history and civics exams, according to the state.

"The substantial gains achieved by Florida’s students on all statewide assessments demonstrate that progress monitoring is working," Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz said. "I want to thank our teachers for their hard work in the classroom and the dedication of Florida’s students to growing throughout the year. Our dedication to our students and our willingness to change the status quo is why Florida is the number one state for education."

Locally, school districts in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee counties all reported year-over-year gains in English language arts for grades 3-10, as well as in math for all students.

Superintendent Mike Burke said Palm Beach County ranked second out of the seven large school districts in Florida for growth in the percentage of third grade through 10th grade students scoring a level 3 or higher on FAST English Language Arts, as well as third through eighth grade students scoring a level 3 or higher on FAST math.

“The growth we’ve seen in the 2023-2024 school year is a direct result of the hard work of our students and staff, as well as the strategies for improvement that we identified coming out of the first year of FAST testing," he said. "We look forward to continuing to see growth year after year as we educate, affirm, and inspire students to be confident learners and productive members of the future workforce.”

B.E.S.T. Algebra 1 as well as sixth grade FAST math saw the highest growth of level 3 score earners for all subject areas, 11 percentage points, the Palm Beach County School District said.

"This jump in Algebra 1 passing scores is the biggest among the state’s seven large districts, and demonstrates how the School District is preparing students for graduation and beyond," Burke said.

Indian River County School District Superintendent Dr. David Moore is celebrating his school district's success, with the highest overall math and English scores on the Treasure Coast.

"These outcomes are fireworks for sure," he said. "We have a singular focus. And that singular focus is student achievement. We do not get distracted, we make sure all of our focus is on supporting teachers to deliver quality instruction, using data to understand where each student is in real time."

When it comes to overall math, Indian River County leads the pack with 60% of students scoring at or above grade level. Martin County is next with 56%, followed by Palm Beach County at 55%, Okeechobee at 47% and St. Lucie with 46%.

"If we were a vampire, math would be our garlic," St. Lucie Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jon Prince said. "We have really, really struggled with math, but from a perspective how we did from where we were, we had large increase in math in third grade, fifth, grade and eighth grade."

He said math will continue to be a focus area for next year, but is proud of the improvements exceeding expectations, especially in elementary school.

"Our initial impression was wow, we really did well," Prince said of the overall test results.

As far as the testing itself is concerned, Prince said "testing in Florida is rigorous" with "too much assessment going on" but supports the progress monitoring model the state moved to two years ago.

"I like it much better than what we had," he said. "It's been a great blessing that we get these results back immediately, so we know exactly where these kids are weak."

For English-Language Arts, Indian River County continues to have the highest percent of students at or above grade level across our area at 57% overall. It's 54% for Palm Beach County, 52% for Martin, 48% for St. Lucie and 41% for Okeechobee County.

"I think the big takeaway is what we are doing in our schools is working." Dan Moore, director of assessment and accountability for Martin County schools, said.

He said math and science showed big gains for the district, while they continue to focus on raising reading scores.

"I want Indian River to know we are coming for them," he said. "We are here to perform and we are here to serve the students in our community and we're here to be number one."

In a statement, Martin County Superintendent Michael Maine said the following: