Tallahassee, Fla., June 8, 2017 – Today, the Department of Education announced that scores on the 2017 statewide, standardized assessments are on the rise and that students narrowed the achievement gap across multiple subjects and grades.
Governor Rick Scott said, “Today’s announcement is great news for Florida’s students and demonstrates that Florida’s dedicated teachers coupled with our continued focus on education is helping them succeed. The accomplishments of our students are proof that we cannot take our foot off the gas and must continue to provide record funding for Florida’s education system.”
“Following Governor Scott’s 2013 Education Accountability Summit, the Governor issued an executive order to ensure that Florida has a transparent accountability system that promotes improvement in student outcomes, and these results are evidence that these reforms are working,” said Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. “Today, we are thrilled to celebrate our students’ accomplishments and recognize the hard-working educators who work each and every day to help our students succeed. We remain committed to the strong, student-focused accountability measures that have enabled our students to reach their full potential.”
Overall Highlights for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics
Compared to 2016, more Florida students passed the 2017 statewide, standardized English language Arts and mathematics assessments.
- In grades 3-10, the percentage of students who passed the English language arts Florida Standards Assessments increased by 2 points;
- In grades 3-8, the percentage of students who passed the Florida Standards Assessments in mathematics and end-of-course assessments increased by 2 points;
- The percentage of Florida’s students who passed the statewide end-of-course assessment in Algebra 1 increased by 6 points;
- The percentage of Florida’s students who passed the statewide end-of-course assessment in Geometry increased by 2 points; and
- The percentage of Florida’s students who passed the statewide end-of-course assessment in Algebra 2 increased by 9 points.
- Certain grade levels achieved particularly impressive improvements on ELA assessments:
- Third grade performance increased by 4 percentage points in ELA; and
- Fourth grade performance increased by 4 percentage points in ELA and 5 percentage points in mathematics.
Overall Highlights for Science and Social Studies
Compared to 2016, a higher percentage of Florida’s students passed the statewide, standardized assessments in Civics and U.S. History while Science performance remained consistent.
- The percentage of Florida’s students passing the statewide end-of-course assessment in Civics increased by 2 points; and
- The percentage of Florida’s students passing the statewide end-of-course assessment in U.S. History increased by 1 point.
Closing the Achievement Gap
Commissioner Stewart added, “There is nothing more important than ensuring that all Florida students have the opportunity to achieve their academic, professional and life goals. We have made tremendous strides and achieved a great return on investment, but there are still disparities that we continue to address. We are pleased that today’s announcement shows that Florida is moving in the right direction, and I am confident we are on track to eliminate the achievement gap entirely.”
The achievement gap between white students and African American students in mathematics narrowed between 2016 and 2017:
- The percentage of African American students in Grades 3 through 8 passing the statewide assessments in mathematics improved by 2 points, while white students’ performance improved by 1 percentage point.
- The percentage of African American students passing the statewide end-of-course assessment in Algebra 1 improved by 7 points, while white students’ performance improved by 5 points.
- The percentage of African American students passing the statewide end-of-course assessment in Geometry improved by 4 points, while white students’ performance improved by 2 points.
- The percentage of African American students passing the statewide end-of-course assessment in Algebra 2 improved by 9 points, while white students’ performance improved by 8 points
- Though the overall number of students who took the Algebra 2 EOC is down in 2017 compared to both 2015 and 2016, a greater number of African American students passed the assessment in 2017 compared to both 2015 and 2016.
Compared to 2016, the performance of student subgroups in English language arts and mathematics improved.
- In grades 3-10, the percentage of white, African American, and English language learner students passing the ELA assessment improved by 2 points and the percentage of Hispanic and disabled students passing improved by 1 point.
- In grades 3-8, on the mathematics assessments, the percentage of English language learners passing improved by 5 percentage points; the percentage of African American and disabled students passing improved by 2 percentage points; and the percentage of white and Hispanic students improved by 1 percentage point.
- In Algebra 1, the percentage of African American students passing improved by 7 percentage points; the percentage of disabled students passing improved by 6 percentage points; the percentage of white students passing improved by 5 percentage points; and the percentage of Hispanic and English language learner students passing improved by 4 percentage points.
- In Geometry, the percentage of African American and English language learner students passing improved by 4 percentage points; the percentage of white and Hispanic students passing improved by 2 percentage points; and the percentage of disabled students passing improved by 1 percentage point.
- In Algebra 2, the percentage of Hispanic students passing improved by 10 percentage points; the percentage of African American students passing improved by 9 percentage points; the percentage of white and disabled students passing improved by 8 percentage points; and the percentage of English language learners passing improved by 6 percentage points.
