Governor Ron DeSantis holds a press conference at Harrison School of the Arts in Lakeland, FL | Trinity Laurino
Statewide student test scores have continued to increase since Florida implemented progress monitoring in 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis announced Friday, June 26, during a stop in Lakeland.
“For the first time ever, more than 60% of Florida students are performing at or above grade level in both English language arts and in mathematics,” DeSantis said during the press conference held at Harrison School for the Arts on the Lakeland High School campus.
DeSantis touted the success of the switch to progress monitoring from high-stakes end-of-year testing. The state made the change in the 2022-2023 school year.
“Rather than just do one high-stakes end-of-year test, we can do periodic assessments throughout the school year, and we call that progress monitoring,” DeSantis said. “If you don’t do well — well, then you have time to remediate. The teacher can talk to the parents. The parents could go in, talk to teacher. The parents could take some action with the child. There’s a whole host of things that can be done.”
Since 2022, School districts have administered the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), given three times a year to measure student learning, in place of the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA).
Statewide results
According to the governor’s press release, at the end of the 2025-26 school year, 61% of students in third through 10th grade scored on or above grade level on the end-of-year FAST English Language Arts (ELA) assessment, an increase of three percentage points from 2025.
Between 2023 and 2026, the percentage of students scoring on or above grade level on the end-of-year ELA progress monitoring assessment increased by 12 percentage points, from 49% to 61%.
Speaking at the press conference, Commissioner of Education Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas, who was recently named president of Polk State College, said the state places an emphasis on the science of reading, “ensuring that these students are understanding how to read and what they’re reading, quite frankly … We know that that changes the trajectory of a child’s life.”
On the end-of-year FAST Mathematics assessment, 62% of students scored on or above grade level, an increase of four percentage points from the previous year. Similarly, the percentage of students scoring on or above grade level on the end-of-year mathematics assessment has improved by nine percentage points, up from 53% to 62%.
Kamoutsas reported that 60% of fifth graders demonstrated proficiency in science and 74% of students demonstrated proficiency in biology on 2025-26 statewide testing.
He said 76% of students scored on or above grade level in civics, an increase of six percentage points from last year. Both Kamoutsas and DeSantis cited the state’s Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative as a driving force behind the recent gains.
In U.S. history, Kamoutsas reported that 73% of students scored on or above grade level.
How Polk County students fared
Scores by county were released after the press conference.
In 2026, 52% of students in Polk County scored on or above grade level in ELA and 48% scored on or above grade level in mathematics.
Since the district implemented progress monitoring, Polk scores have consistently lagged behind the state average by about 10 points, but they follow the same upward trajectory. In both ELA and mathematics, only 40% of students scored on or above grade level in 2023.
Five of the seven Polk County School board members were in attendance but Kate Wallace, who was appointed by Desantis to the school board in 2025, was the only one to speak. Wallace is one of three candidates vying for election in District 3 in the August primary.
“In the last five years, we’ve eliminated any F schools from our district,” Wallace said. “We’ve significantly reduced the number of D schools we have, and in fact we feel confident that in the current trajectory that we’re on, that someday soon — and very soon — we’ll be able to say we have no D schools for the first time in the 27 year history of A-through-F school grading.”
On July 1, Polk County Public Schools announced that the district “maintained and improved its B grade, as many schools throughout the district earned higher marks, according to data released today by the Florida Department of Education.”
From high-stakes to progress monitoring
FAST assessments align with the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics — which provide guidance for teachers, administrators, and parents about what a student should be learning each year.
A score of three or higher on a FAST assessment is considered “on grade level.”
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Anna Toms was born and raised in Kansas City, Mo., where she cultivated a love for writing and eventually earned her Ph.D. in literature and the humanities. She is an experienced educator who has taught students from middle school to college to think critically and express themselves clearly. Anna moved to Lakeland in June of 2020.
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