Miami-Dade, Broward districts earn ‘A' grades again — but what do the scores really mean?

Miami Herald

4 days ago

This week, Florida's education leaders celebrated what looks like major gains.
School districts across the state saw improvements in student test results and school grades.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday that 71 percent of Florida schools received A or B grades, up from 64 percent last year. Statewide more students hit proficiency benchmarks in English and math under the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking test, or FAST, than last year.
Miami-Dade and Broward County were once again rated 'A' districts.
Miami-Dade received an A rating for the 6th year in a row, with 99% of M-DCPS schools receiving School Grades of A, B, or C in 2025, and no schools receiving an F.
Broward also received an A rating, for the second consecutive year. No schools in Broward received a D or F rating.
School grades are calculated using a rubric that measures English, Math, Science, Social Studies as well as graduation rates and 'acceleration success,' which measures how middle and high school students do on an end of course exam or industry certification.
The academic portion of the schools' grades are calculated using results from the FAST test.
Florida adopted FAST in 2023 to replace the Florida Standards Assessments. Unlike the once-a-year FSA, FAST is a progress monitoring system with three checkpoints throughout the year. The final round, called PM3, is the score used in state accountability grades and public reporting.
This year's results show gains across the board. The percentage of students in Florida scoring a Level 3 or above in math increased in nearly every grade.
Miami-Dade and Broward followed the trend, with both districts showing higher percentages of students scoring at or above grade level compared to the state average.
At the press conference, DeSantis celebrated the results and the state's new testing system, standing at a podium with a sign that read 'FLORIDA: THE EDUCATION STATE.'
The governor said that Florida had an issue with too much emphasis on a single end-of-year test, and so the state moved to progress monitoring testing to alleviate that.
State tests need more time, expert says
The year over year gains are impressive, but experts point out that since FAST is still a new exam, it lacks the kind of longitudinal data needed to evaluate academic trends over time.
'There's not a lot you can comfortably say between this year and last year; you have to compare over the long haul,' said Bruce Baker, a professor at the University of Miami who is recognized as the nation's leading scholar on school finance.
Education experts also caution that improvements in scores early in a new test's life cycle may reflect an increase in test familiarity rather than genuine gains in student learning.
Baker said this year's improvements in Miami-Dade and Broward — and across Florida — were in line with data that shows that students generally do well in the first few years of a new test.
'We expect score improvements in the first few years simply as a function of increased familiarity with the tests,' he said.
Jose Dotres, superintendent of schools in Miami-Dade, praised the results.
'We are immensely proud of their consistent performance and growth across all subjects,' said Dotres in a statement.
Baker emphasized that FAST scores can be useful for comparing districts within Florida, but are also graded on an arbitrary curve.
In Florida, a test development company creates a 'line in the sand' that is used to evaluate the number of students who score about that threshold, Baker said.
'It all depends on where you set the bar,' he said. And states have a stake in making it seem as though students are performing better each year.
School grades are also based on a set of measurements which researchers such as Baker say often rely on arbitrary cutoffs and oversimplified metrics that potentially distort school performance.
For an elementary school to score an A in Florida, it only needs 62% of points on a scale of 100. Middle and high schools with 64% or higher get an A.
Experts say the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP — often called the 'Nation's Report Card' — remains the most reliable way to track educational progress over time. Unlike state tests, NAEP uses a sampling procedure that offers consistent measurement across states and years. The test is run by a congressionally-approved board of experts, the National Assessment Governing Board, a nonpartisan group that produces what experts agree are the most accurate state and national level results.
And when you look at NAEP scores — particularly in 8th-grade math — the trends are troubling. Florida's scores have declined since the early 2010s and now fall below the national average. The latest data available for NAEP scores is for 2024, but the trendline is clear.
Morgan Polikoff, a professor at the University of Southern California and an expert in curriculum and testing policy, said part of the disconnect between state tests and national tests like NAEP can come from different content emphases and the fact that teachers often tailor instruction specifically to the state test.
But the national NAEP test may be at risk, as federal budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Education threaten the scope and frequency of future assessments.