MARION COUNTY, Fla. – Marion County Public Schools announced test scores from the 2024-25 school year on Tuesday, showing notable year-over-year improvements using the state’s new testing procedures across all grade levels.
In the third year of using the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, an approach that monitors students throughout the year in all 67 districts at regular intervals rather than relying on a single test at the end of the year, Marion County students showed improved test scores in a wide variety of subjects, officials said.
The school district provided the following list of notable improvements:
English Language Arts (ELA)
- Every grade level improved year over year
- Every grade cohort (collective students advancing to the next grade level) improved from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025
- Performance increased by 19 percentage points from the beginning of the school year (PM1) to the end of the school year (PM3), with 48% scoring on grade level or higher in PM3 compared to 29% in PM1
- Largest year-over-year gain in seventh grade (+11 points)
- Largest cohort improvement in ninth grade (+8 points)
- Percent of all students scoring Level 3 and above increased three percentage points from 2024 and seven percentage points from 2023
Mathematics
- Performance increased by 38 percentage points from the beginning of the school year (PM1) to the end of the school year (PM3), with 48% scoring on grade level or higher in PM3 compared to 10% in PM1
- Largest gain in seventh grade (+10 points)
- Percent of all students scoring Level 3 and above increased one percentage point from 2024 and three percentage points from 2023
Science
- Biology scores improved for the fourth year in a row (53% 2022 to 66% 2024)
- Biology scores increased by six percentage points, outpacing the state’s growth of four percentage points
Social Studies
- Civics scores increased by 10 percentage points, outpacing the state’s growth of four percentage points
- U.S. History scores improved for the fourth consecutive year (63% in 2022 to 68% in 2025)
FAST was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March 2022, replacing the Florida Standard Assessments. FAST tests are taken in the beginning, middle and end of each school year, envisioned to help teachers better assess how students are doing in English and math.
“We can get the same information from the FSA in a much shorter period of time and in a way to get really quick feedback for parents, teachers and students,” DeSantis said at the bill signing.
Additional test results, including Advanced Placement, Cambridge AICE, and International Baccalaureate, will be released later this summer, MCPS said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.