West Florida News

Of the 40,322 Lee County students who took part in the 2022-23 school year FAST, 41.5% met the testing standard while 12.4% exceeded expectations, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Lee County's proficiency level in the 2022-23 school year was 53.9%, 1.9% lower than the state's average of 55.8%.

During the 2022-23 school year, Nassau County students fared the best on the Math portion of the FSA, with 78.4% of them succeeding. Meanwhile Jefferson County students did worst on Math, with 27.3% of the students passing the test.

There were 99,347 students enrolled in Lee County schools in the 2022-23 school year.

According to WalletHub's analysis, Florida is ranked 9th out of 50 states in terms of its public school quality and safety.

After the pandemic, Florida registered a decline in students' performance, especially in mathematics-related areas.

Florida's choice to stick with in-person classes during the pandemic may have shielded students from significant learning setbacks. A recent Harvard study highlighted that districts heavily reliant on remote learning saw the most significant declines in student achievement amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“Interestingly, gaps in math achievement by race and school poverty did not widen in school districts in states such as Texas and Florida and elsewhere that remained largely in-person,” said Thomas Kane, professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

School Year	Students who met standards (%)	Students who exceeded standards (%)	Total Enrolment
2022-23	41.5%	12.4%	99,347