MEDIA RELEASE
Brooksville - The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) released the Florida State Assessment {FSA) results for Math and English Language Arts (ELA) for 2022. Grades statewide showed a significant drop since 2019 likely due to the pandemic, and have been slow to rise. Assessment results show scores in Hernando County have been a bit slower to recover in comparison to statewide percentages. Because of the absence of annual assessment data for 2020 due to the pandemic, the breakdown of results for the 2021-22 school year is compared to 2019 data.
For Spring 2022, the state increased by 4% to 55% proficient in FSA Math for grades 3-8, following a sharp decline in state proficiency after 2019. Hernando School District gained 1% to 52%. For elementary school (grades 3-5), scores increased 2%, bringing it to 53% proficient. This is 4% below the state, which saw a 5% gain this year. Middle school grades increased at the state level by 3%, and Hernando held steady at the district level at 51%.
Across the state, proficiency on the Algebra 1 EOC declined significantly after 8th grade. At the State level, overall proficiency increased from 49% to 54% in Spring testing. The school district had a slight decrease from 51% to 50%. For geometry, Hernando County saw a slight decrease, 4% behind the state.
For ELA scores in grades 3-10, district scores dropped slightly from 49% to 48% proficiency mirroring state results which showed only 25% of districts made gains in ELA. Breaking the pattern of steady gains in ELA proficiency, 2022 scores show state and district scores reflected the challenge of maintaining momentum after school closures, quarantines, and remote learning due to COVID-19. Elementary scores did increase 2% and is making up ground from a 5% drop in 2021. Elementary results also had the highest proficiency at 53%.
"Overall, our results are similar to school districts of similar demographics," said Sonsee Sanders, Supervisor of Data Informed Supports for Hernando Schools. "As we monitored progress and instruction throughout the year, teachers and administrators actively collaborated to find solutions in an environment of shifting challenges. That practice will serve schools well as they develop improvement plans for 2022-23."
"The data reflects what we already knew. The challenge of maintaining continuity and consistency of instruction throughout the pandemic had a direct impact on outcomes," Superintendent John Stratton said. "Now, we turn our focus to next year and developing our action plan that will recover learning loss and maintain our on-time graduation goal for students."