“The substantial gains achieved by Florida’s students on all statewide assessments demonstrate that progress monitoring is working,” said Commissioner Manny Diaz.

Florida education leaders are celebrating what they call “significant student growth and improvements” in the second year of statewide progress monitoring tests. On Monday, the Florida Department of Education released results from the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) exams for the 2023/24 academic year.

The results show that 53% of students tested in English Language Arts (ELA) in grades 3-10 scored at or above grade level during the third round of progress monitoring exams at the end of the year, marking a 4% increase from the same period the previous school year. Additionally, 55% of students tested in mathematics across all grades scored at or above grade level, also a 4% increase from the year before.

There were also year-over-year gains in fifth and eighth grade science, as well as in Biology 1, Algebra 1, geometry, U.S. history, and civics exams.

“The substantial gains achieved by Florida’s students on all statewide assessments demonstrate that progress monitoring is working,” said Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz. “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 commitment to our students and our willingness to innovate is why Florida is the number one state for education.”

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

Superintendent Mike Burke noted that Palm Beach County ranked second among the seven large school districts in Florida for growth in the percentage of third through tenth-grade students scoring a level 3 or higher on FAST ELA, and 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.”

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