Did Madison County students succeed or flounder in their 2023-24 school year Algebra FAST tests?

Of the 189 Madison County students who took part in the 2023-24 FAST, 37% met the testing standard while 4.8% exceeded expectations, according to the Florida Department of Education.

The number of Madison County students who succeeded on the test grew by 19.7% from the previous school year.

Madison County’s proficiency level in the 2023-24 school year was 41.8%, lower than the state’s average of 55.4%.

During the 2023-24 school year, St. Johns County students fared the best on the Algebra portion of the FSA, with 77% of them succeeding. Meanwhile Dixie County students did the worst on Algebra, with 26.7% of the students passing the test.

There were 2,300 students enrolled in Madison County schools in the 2023-24 school year.

On the 2024-25 Florida FAST assessments, 57% of students in grades 3-10 scored at or above Level 3 in English language arts, up about 4 percentage points from the previous year. In mathematics, which includes FAST for grades 3-8 and high school end-of-course exams, about 58% reached Level 3 or higher, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Florida ranks near the bottom nationwide in academic recovery since the pandemic, according to the 2025 Education Recovery Scorecard. The state placed 36th in math and 45th in reading recovery between 2019 and 2024, with the lowest reading gains in the nation from 2022 to 2024. Students remain more than half a grade behind in math and nearly a full grade behind in reading, with no district returning to its 2019 reading levels.

As of 2025, Florida has an average student-to-teacher ratio of approximately 18:1, which is significantly worse than the national average of 15:1. The state’s worst ratios are found in high schools, with an average ratio of 21:1.

According to WalletHub’s analysis, Florida ranks ninth among the 50 states for public school quality and safety, with a quality ranking of 27.