Florida Department of Education releases new state assessment test results
MIAMI - The state Department of Education on Thursday published the first round of results from Florida's new "progress monitoring" system of student assessments in public schools.
The new tests, dubbed the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking or FAST exams, were implemented this school year.
The Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis last year approved a measure that did away with the state's previous standardized testing system.
The new system involves students taking tests three times each school year, with the final exams of the year used for state and federal accountability purposes.
SEE ALSO: Click here to see how Miami-Dade students performed and click here to see how they did in Broward
The results published Tuesday show that 50 percent of students in third through tenth grades scored "on-grade-level or above" on the final exams in English-language arts.
In the mathematics end-of-course exams, which were administered to students in third through eighth grades, 56 percent of students scored in the "level 3" range - which represents an on-grade-level score - or higher.
In releasing the assessment data, the education department said that the end-of-course results "are based on provisional achievement level cuts that are linked to each assessment's respective 2021-2022 reporting scale," and cautioned against comparing this year's outcomes with previous years.
"For 2023-2024 and beyond, scores will be reported on a new scale after the State Board of Education adopts new student achievement levels in fall of 2023," the education department said on its website. But state Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. pointed to "significant gains" made by students under the new progress-monitoring system.
"The significant gains made by our students this school year prove that progress monitoring is a success. Florida's teachers were provided immediate feedback following each FAST administration and used that feedback to guide future instruction," Diaz said in a statement.