In a year that brought new, more rigorous statewide assessments in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics to Florida, Okaloosa students once again outperformed almost every other school district in the state in their proficiency rankings. A combined analysis of all test results recently released by the Florida Department of Education shows that Okaloosa ranks 5th among 67 Florida school districts. These results continue the improvement in recent years from 8th and 7th, in 2021 and 2022, respectively. ELA and Math results in grades 4-8 showed particularly strong improvement in proficiency levels among students despite the fact that a new, more rigorous assessment, the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), was administered this year in those areas.
“Our teachers, support professionals, administrators, and parents did a tremendous job this year helping our students be successful with the new standards,” noted Superintendent Marcus Chambers, “but the lion’s share of the credit goes to the students, and we are all very proud of them. “We’ll continue to focus on areas where we can be even better, but we are extremely pleased with the overall results.” Students are required to take statewide assessments in ELA grades 3-10, Mathematics grades 3-8, Algebra, Geometry, Science grades 5 and 8, Biology, Civics, and US History. The assessments for ELA and Mathematics were new and based on the more rigorous BEST standards that were recently implemented in Florida
The results of these assessments, along with other academic indicators, are used to produce school grades. For more information visit www.okaloosaschools.com or https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/results/2023.stml.
