Rising test scores: Breath of fresh air for Broward school board amid financial crisis
By Natalie La Roche Pietri
March 3, 2026 at 5:49 PM EST
Broward County elementary and secondary students passed at higher rates than the statewide average in both math and English in the most recent state exams, even as the district remains on unstable financial ground.
Since 2024, the county's schools have seen an upward trend in passing rates on the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST, school board members heard at a workshop on Tuesday.
Three times per school year, the state tests student academic progress with FAST, starting at the voluntary prekindergarten level to 10th grade. The thrice-a-year model — once at the beginning of the school year, a second one halfway through and the last one before school is out for summer break — is intended to allow course-correcting throughout the year instead of a one-and-done final test.
The second FAST test, called Progress Monitoring 2, " is really about our mid-year pulse check," chief academic officer Fabian Cone said at the meeting. And, the improvement in those recent results, he added, shows the district's approach is "working."
The largest improvements in English Language Arts — reading and writing — at the elementary level were in 4th and 5th grade, which both saw an 8% increase in passing rates from 2024 to the current year.
And in math, compared to when students took the same test in 2024, 5th graders had the largest increase in earning scores of Level 3 — the passing score on a 5-level scale — and above.
During Tuesday's board workshop where the results were extensively reviewed, board member Allen Zeman celebrated that 25,000 students had progressed from at or below grade level to at or above grade level.
"That is a heroic number of people when you have 187,000 students in your school district — that's a big number," he said.
The data showing incremental improvement among most grade groups was encouraging to board members during a challenging time.
Broward County Public Schools, the sixth largest district in the country, has 50,000 empty seats. Districts get government funding based on student headcount and Broward faces a budget hole of $94 million due to having 10,000 fewer students than it did last year. Job cuts are also on the horizon and are expected to affect 1,000 positions, but not teachers.
The district also continues to navigate a slew of recent financial scandals — suddenly backing out of an office-space lease worth nearly $3 million that resulted in a lawsuit against Broward schools, misallocated teacher referendum money and a “botched multimillion-dollar procurement process” meant to find an entity to oversee construction projects.
READ MORE: 'We're halfway there': As Broward shuts down six schools, superintendent details next steps
"Three to 5% growth [in passing levels] every year during a time where we are dramatically underfunded as an education system and now in which we're in fiscal urgency, crisis — whatever you wanna describe it as — that to me is a big deal," said Zeman, who often advocates for more ambitious budgeting measures.
For board member Nora Rupert, it sends a strong message to parents: " Even in bad times financially, we are doing the work that we need to do in this district and this state in your classroom with your kid."
English Language Arts results
All elementary and secondary grades surpassed the state average in the FAST exam administered halfway through the school year. From 2024 to now, students earning scores of Level 3 and above in 4th and 5th grades went up by 9% points.
In Broward County, 52% of fifth graders earned a Level 3 and higher compared to 48% across the state, for example.
Seventh graders had the largest gain in English Language Arts, or ELA, passing rates and above, from 42% in 2025 to 55% in 2026 — a 13-percentage-point jump.
The improvement was linked to the "Science of Reading," the teaching approach to literacy based on evidence of what is most effective for reading comprehension skills.
READ MORE: Students' scores on Florida tests show benchmark improvements. National indicators aren't as promising
Black, Hispanic and white students have also made strides year-to-year, but gaps between the groups remain.
White students achieved the most Level 3 and higher scores on FAST, at 66%, followed by Hispanic students at 50% and then Black students at 42%.
Charter schools are not included in the data. (2524x1384, AR: 1.823699421965318)
"It's not just okay to make gains," Rupert said, "but we need to be able to make sure that [students] are making incredible gains" in narrowing gaps.
Black students' passing rates increased by 10 percentage points in the last three years. For Hispanic students, it was an 8% hike.
" I think the main story here is that we're showing improvement not only overall as a district, but also when we break out this performance by race, ethnicity," said Richard Baum, director of Educational Assessment, Analysis and Research.
Math results
Compared to when students took the same test in 2024, the number of 5th graders earning scores of Level 3 and above went up by 9 percentage points.
Seventh grade improved significantly with an increase of 11 percentage points in Level 3 and above scores over the last three years. Sixth grade passing rates remained steady at 44%.
As in ELA results, there's improvement among race and ethnic groups but gaps persist.
The gap between white and Black students was 27 percentage points, while the white-Hispanic gap stood at 16 points, with both slightly widening since 2024.
Benchmark differences and over-testing concerns
While scores on state tests have improved, the president of the state's largest teachers' union said last year that Florida students' national test scores are falling.
"If we truly want to have the world-class education systems we should have here in Florida, then we've got to look a little broader than just the state assessments," Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar said at the time.
Last year's National Assessment of Educational Progress put Florida in the bottom half of the country for math and reading, but better in science and writing. Florida's SAT scores are dropping as well, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Spar said one reason students may be doing better on state assessments but not national ones is that Florida keeps changing the test it uses. (Florida switched to FAST testing during the 2022-23 school year.)
Board member Jeff Holness pointed out the benchmark difference during the meeting.
" Sometimes when we compare the particular assessment over years, things may change each year, so you're not really measuring exactly the same things," he said.
In addition to state exams, students also complete tests teachers create for their classes. Over-testing was also a concern among board members as part of the broader-context conversation about teachers feeling pressured for state-exam achievement over individual student success.
" I also like to keep my ear to the ground when it comes to that every day... teaching, learning and relationships that actually make a big difference in our kids' life," Rupert said.
Reporting by WUSF 89.7 was used in this story.
Since 2024, the county's schools have seen an upward trend in passing rates on the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST, school board members heard at a workshop on Tuesday.
Three times per school year, the state tests student academic progress with FAST, starting at the voluntary prekindergarten level to 10th grade. The thrice-a-year model — once at the beginning of the school year, a second one halfway through and the last one before school is out for summer break — is intended to allow course-correcting throughout the year instead of a one-and-done final test.
The second FAST test, called Progress Monitoring 2, " is really about our mid-year pulse check," chief academic officer Fabian Cone said at the meeting. And, the improvement in those recent results, he added, shows the district's approach is "working."
The largest improvements in English Language Arts — reading and writing — at the elementary level were in 4th and 5th grade, which both saw an 8% increase in passing rates from 2024 to the current year.
And in math, compared to when students took the same test in 2024, 5th graders had the largest increase in earning scores of Level 3 — the passing score on a 5-level scale — and above.
During Tuesday's board workshop where the results were extensively reviewed, board member Allen Zeman celebrated that 25,000 students had progressed from at or below grade level to at or above grade level.
"That is a heroic number of people when you have 187,000 students in your school district — that's a big number," he said.
The data showing incremental improvement among most grade groups was encouraging to board members during a challenging time.
Broward County Public Schools, the sixth largest district in the country, has 50,000 empty seats. Districts get government funding based on student headcount and Broward faces a budget hole of $94 million due to having 10,000 fewer students than it did last year. Job cuts are also on the horizon and are expected to affect 1,000 positions, but not teachers.
The district also continues to navigate a slew of recent financial scandals — suddenly backing out of an office-space lease worth nearly $3 million that resulted in a lawsuit against Broward schools, misallocated teacher referendum money and a “botched multimillion-dollar procurement process” meant to find an entity to oversee construction projects.
READ MORE: 'We're halfway there': As Broward shuts down six schools, superintendent details next steps
"Three to 5% growth [in passing levels] every year during a time where we are dramatically underfunded as an education system and now in which we're in fiscal urgency, crisis — whatever you wanna describe it as — that to me is a big deal," said Zeman, who often advocates for more ambitious budgeting measures.
For board member Nora Rupert, it sends a strong message to parents: " Even in bad times financially, we are doing the work that we need to do in this district and this state in your classroom with your kid."
English Language Arts results
All elementary and secondary grades surpassed the state average in the FAST exam administered halfway through the school year. From 2024 to now, students earning scores of Level 3 and above in 4th and 5th grades went up by 9% points.
In Broward County, 52% of fifth graders earned a Level 3 and higher compared to 48% across the state, for example.
Seventh graders had the largest gain in English Language Arts, or ELA, passing rates and above, from 42% in 2025 to 55% in 2026 — a 13-percentage-point jump.
The improvement was linked to the "Science of Reading," the teaching approach to literacy based on evidence of what is most effective for reading comprehension skills.
READ MORE: Students' scores on Florida tests show benchmark improvements. National indicators aren't as promising
Black, Hispanic and white students have also made strides year-to-year, but gaps between the groups remain.
White students achieved the most Level 3 and higher scores on FAST, at 66%, followed by Hispanic students at 50% and then Black students at 42%.
Charter schools are not included in the data. (2524x1384, AR: 1.823699421965318)
"It's not just okay to make gains," Rupert said, "but we need to be able to make sure that [students] are making incredible gains" in narrowing gaps.
Black students' passing rates increased by 10 percentage points in the last three years. For Hispanic students, it was an 8% hike.
" I think the main story here is that we're showing improvement not only overall as a district, but also when we break out this performance by race, ethnicity," said Richard Baum, director of Educational Assessment, Analysis and Research.
Math results
Compared to when students took the same test in 2024, the number of 5th graders earning scores of Level 3 and above went up by 9 percentage points.
Seventh grade improved significantly with an increase of 11 percentage points in Level 3 and above scores over the last three years. Sixth grade passing rates remained steady at 44%.
As in ELA results, there's improvement among race and ethnic groups but gaps persist.
The gap between white and Black students was 27 percentage points, while the white-Hispanic gap stood at 16 points, with both slightly widening since 2024.
Benchmark differences and over-testing concerns
While scores on state tests have improved, the president of the state's largest teachers' union said last year that Florida students' national test scores are falling.
"If we truly want to have the world-class education systems we should have here in Florida, then we've got to look a little broader than just the state assessments," Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar said at the time.
Last year's National Assessment of Educational Progress put Florida in the bottom half of the country for math and reading, but better in science and writing. Florida's SAT scores are dropping as well, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Spar said one reason students may be doing better on state assessments but not national ones is that Florida keeps changing the test it uses. (Florida switched to FAST testing during the 2022-23 school year.)
Board member Jeff Holness pointed out the benchmark difference during the meeting.
" Sometimes when we compare the particular assessment over years, things may change each year, so you're not really measuring exactly the same things," he said.
In addition to state exams, students also complete tests teachers create for their classes. Over-testing was also a concern among board members as part of the broader-context conversation about teachers feeling pressured for state-exam achievement over individual student success.
" I also like to keep my ear to the ground when it comes to that every day... teaching, learning and relationships that actually make a big difference in our kids' life," Rupert said.
Reporting by WUSF 89.7 was used in this story.