C.J. Gish
The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released partial state test scores Tuesday and Alachua County School District showed increases in math scores and slight decreases in language arts.
According to an Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) release, the FDOE showed increases in local math passing rates, particularly in Algebra, while the district saw a slight decrease in English Language Arts. The FDOE did not release results for science, civics and history tests yet.
Results from the math FSA (Florida Standards Assessment), which is administered to students in grades 3-8, Alachua County students scoring a 3 or higher in math rose from 51% to 52%. On the Algebra EOC (End of Course) exam, the percentage of students scoring 3 or above increased from 46% to 52%—which so far is the most significant increase in passing rates. For the Geometry EOC exam, the local percentage rose from 50% to 51%.
Alachua County’s Algebra and Geometry passing rates are higher than the state’s rate of 49% for each test. The district’s math FSA passing rate this year was below the state’s rate of 55%.
Alachua County’s secondary school students did do better than their state peers on the math FSA, particularly high school students. District passing rates for this year were 55%, compared to the state rate of 50%.
For the English Language Arts (ELA) FSA, the percentage of local students who scored at 3 or above dropped slightly from 53% to 52%, matching the state’s percentage.
The district continues to wait for the release of the rest of the test scores, but the district and school staff are already reviewing the initial results for individual schools, grade levels and students, according to the release.
“We’ll be digging deep into the data so that we can see where students improved and where they didn’t,” said Jennie Wise, the district’s chief of teaching and learning, in the release. “That information will drive our instructional strategies for the upcoming school year.”
Earlier this year the Florida Legislature, at the urging of Gov. Ron DeSantis, eliminated FSA testing in favor of a new accountability system that would involve more ‘progress monitoring’ during the school year. Details about that new system are still being rolled out.
Last year, test results county and statewide declined from 2019 to 2021 after the state had to cancel the 2020 testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Statewide averages dropped 7% while Alachua County saw only a 5% decrease.