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