FAST scores out: Less than half of Lee County students reading at or above grade level
The results are in on the first new statewide English and math assessments for Lee County students.
Just over 46% of students in grades 3-10 finished the school year able to read at grade level, according to the state's new assessment results. That leaves 54% of students not hitting benchmarks and is roughly 10 percentage points worse than the state average.
A total of 55% of students in grades 3-6 performed at or above grade level for mathematics, on par with the state, according to assessment results. A total of 46% of students in grades 7-10 performed at or above grade level for algebra 1 and 45% of students in grades 8-12 are at or exceeded for geometry. The latter two under the state average of 54% and 49%.
Scores for the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST, test — created in March 2022 — were released June 29 by the Florida Department of Education. The assessments, which replaced the grade-level Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) for the first time this school year, showed progress students made throughout the school year as they mastered skills in reading and math. English language arts, math and science test scores, including scores from end-of-course exams in algebra, geometry and biology, were released.
Because the FAST test is different from FSA, state and local educators said comparing this year's scores to previous years was invalid.
Last year's scores FSA scores are out: Here's how Collier and Lee schools performed on state tests
New testing
The implementation of the FAST testing meant Florida students took more standardized tests this year. The state testing standards were overhauled by state education leaders and Gov. Ron DeSantis as a way to check in on student progress throughout the year.
The English language arts and mathematics exams were administered three times, showing how students progressed throughout the year instead of providing a snapshot of where they are only once — at the end of each year — as the FSA did.
Collier County students took the exams once in early September, a second time between in mid-January and a final time in May.
While DeSantis called the end of the FSA exams the end of "high stakes testing" in Florida, students still need to pass the exams to move to fourth grade and, later, to graduate high school.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: New test scores released for reading and math. Here's how Lee did
