Press Release

February 11, 2025

Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342

Florida Ranked 36th Among States in Math Recovery and 45th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024

Students remain over half a grade level behind in math and over three-quarters of a grade level behind in reading.

Reading is more of a concern in Florida than math, and not a single district has recovered to 2019 levels in reading.

(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.

The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Florida students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Florida. Here’s what we found:

  • Florida ranked 36th among states in terms of recovery in math and 45th in reading between 2019 and 2024. Between 2022-2024, Florida’s reading recovery ranked last in the nation.
  • Students remain over half a grade level behind in math (.56 grade equivalents) and over three-quarters of a grade level behind in reading (.77 grade equivalents). In other words, the loss in achievement in math Florida is greater than 50 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
  • The average student in some districts, such as Seminole, Duval, and Osceola, remains more than a grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in math, and the average student in Sarasota, Lake, Duval, Pasco, Palm Beach, Polk, Miami-Dade, and Osceola remains at least 80% of a grade level below 2019 levels in reading.
  • Reading is more of a concern in Florida than math. While 85 percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels, not a single district has recovered to 2019 levels in reading. This is true in many other states, with 89 percent of students in districts nationally below 2019 levels in reading, and only 11 percent above.
  • Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in Pinellas, Orange, and Collier has exceeded 2019 levels in math and Pinellas is approaching a recovery in reading.
  • A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 20 percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 31 percent in 2023 is slowing the recovery in many districts in Florida.
  • Florida received $10.9 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $3,800 per student—which is slightly more than the national average of $3,700 per student. Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.

The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Florida schools.  Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning.  State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.

One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane from Harvard, said: “Unless state and local leaders step up now, the achievement losses will be the longest lasting– and most inequitable– legacy of the pandemic.”

For the national press release and findings click here.

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University 

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.

Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342

District Fact Sheets

Statewide Data
Download
Alachua - 1200030
Download
Baker - 1200060
Download
Bay - 1200090
Download
Bradford - 1200120
Download
Brevard - 1200150
Download
Broward - 1200180
Download
Calhoun - 1200210
Download
Charlotte - 1200240
Download
Citrus - 1200270
Download
Clay - 1200300
Download
Collier - 1200330
Download
Columbia - 1200360
Download
Miami Dade - 1200390
Download
Desoto - 1200420
Download
Dixie - 1200450
Download
Duval - 1200480
Download
Escambia - 1200510
Download
Flagler - 1200540
Download
Franklin - 1200570
Download
Gadsden - 1200600
Download
Gilchrist - 1200630
Download
Glades - 1200660
Download
Gulf - 1200690
Download
Hamilton - 1200720
Download
Hardee - 1200750
Download
Hernando - 1200810
Download
Highlands - 1200840
Download
Hillsborough - 1200870
Download
Holmes - 1200900
Download
Indian River - 1200930
Download
Jackson - 1200960
Download
Jefferson - 1200990
Download
Lafayette - 1201020
Download
Lake - 1201050
Download
Lee - 1201080
Download
Leon - 1201110
Download
Levy - 1201140
Download
Liberty - 1201170
Download
Madison - 1201200
Download
Manatee - 1201230
Download
Marion - 1201260
Download
Martin - 1201290
Download
Monroe - 1201320
Download
Nassau - 1201350
Download
Okaloosa - 1201380
Download
Okeechobee - 1201410
Download
Orange - 1201440
Download
Osceola - 1201470
Download
Palm Beach - 1201500
Download
Pasco - 1201530
Download
Pinellas - 1201560
Download
Polk - 1201590
Download
Putnam - 1201620
Download
Santa Rosa - 1201650
Download
Sarasota - 1201680
Download
Seminole - 1201710
Download
St Johns - 1201740
Download
St Lucie - 1201770
Download
Sumter - 1201800
Download
Suwannee - 1201830
Download
Taylor - 1201860
Download
Union - 1201890
Download
Volusia - 1201920
Download
Wakulla - 1201950
Download
Walton - 1201980
Download
Washington - 1202010
Download
No districts matched your search