The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) recently released its end-of-year testing results for public school students, and the numbers show improvement in the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) assessment in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, particularly in Alachua County.
Below is a breakdown of the results from the spring assessment period and how they compare to the middle (PM2) and the beginning of the school year (PM1).
English Language Arts (ELA)
During this last testing period for the 2024-25 school year, 55% of Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) students in grades three through 10th scored a level three or higher in ELA, according to FLDOE data. That is an increase of 11 percentage points from PM2 and a rise of roughly 20 percentage points from PM1.
Across the state, 57% of students in grades through 10th scored a level three or higher in ELA – an increase of 21 percentage points from the start of the school year to the end.
Comparing year-to-year for Florida, the 57% mark is a four-percentage-point rise from 2024 and an increase of eight percentage points from 2023.
Mathematics
Results from the final testing period of the 2024-25 school year (PM3) show that 52% of Alachua County public school students in grades three through eight scored at a level three or above in mathematics. That is an increase of 22 percentage points from PM2 and a rise of 34 percentage points from PM1, according to FLDOE data.
Statewide, 59% of students in grades three through eight scored at a level three or higher – an increase of 44 percentage points from PM1 to PM3.
First launched during the 2022-23 school year, “the FAST coordinated screening and progress monitoring program includes grades 3 through 10 English Language Arts (ELA) Reading and grades 3 through 8 Mathematics assessments that are aligned to the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards,” according to the FLDOE.
FAST assessments are conducted three times during the school year, allowing teachers to better track students’ progress throughout the year.
The first assessment takes place at the beginning of the school year (PM1), the second in the middle of the year (PM2), and the third at the end of the year (PM3).
According to the FLDOE, “In grades 3-10, each FAST progress monitoring assessment (PM1, PM2 and PM3) covers the full-year content expectations for a particular grade level and subject.”
Students are evaluated by way of a scoring scale ranging from one to five, with one being well below grade level and five being exemplary (highly likely to excel in the next grade or course).
If a student scores at level three, he or she is considered to be at his or her grade level.
For more information regarding the 2024-25 statewide assessments, visit this link.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News.
Your use and interpretation of data is misleading. You grouped results basing it as a 3-10th grade result. Yet when you look at each grade’s performance, we actually decreased. We are ranked among the lowest in the state. Please dig deeper and do some homework before you announce and publish inaccurate results.
So, 52-55 percent of these pupils test at level three or above. Level three means performing at grade level….I take that to mean that 45-47 percent of these pupils are not proficient at their current grade level. Also, I see that Alachua County Public Schools are below Florida’s average. Florida is not even mediocre, (it is pretty bad), and ACPS are below that average? I would love to be able to measure today’s performance against 1920,1960,1980, all before the new way of testing. I don’t think kids have changed a whole lot….but something has!
Kudos to ACPS for the improvement! Keep up the good work.
They are still doing a POOR job, WORSE than the State average
The School Board has FAILED the students, Particularly those in poor neighborhoods. They should resign in SHAME but they won’t.
It is sad that the voters are OK with 45-48 % of the kids failing math or English and actually re-elected Board members who are doing such a poor jobs. I guess they staying on the Board because they are making money and are incompetent at doing anything else, SHAMEFUL.