Yahoo Movies Just more than half of Miami-Dade, Broward third-graders at reading level, tests show
Scores on the state’s annual third-grade reading exams increased slightly in Broward public schools this school year, while scores in Miami-Dade decreased slightly, according to 2022 Florida Assessment results quietly released this week by the Department of Education.
In Broward County, the state’s second-largest district and the country’s sixth largest, just 54% of third-graders earned a passing score — a Level 3 “satisfactory,” up from 53% in the 2020-2021 school year. In Miami-Dade, 56% of students did so, down slightly from 57%, records show. Miami-Dade is the largest district in Florida and the country’s fourth largest.
Both districts scored above the state’s average of 53%.
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The pandemic’s impact
The annual test measures student performance in reading, mathematics, science and social studies and details a student’s proficiency in the state’s academic standards. Test results for math, science and social studies have yet to be released.
This year’s results follow a downward trend of reading proficiency among students over the past handful of years, which many officials attribute to the learning losses experienced during more than a year of at-home learning for many.
In a Miami-Dade County Schools news release sent Thursday, staff wrote that the “impact of the COVID-19 pandemic” should be considered when reviewing the scores.
“This year’s cohort of third-grade students was the same group of students who were in the first grade during the 2019-20 school year, which was disrupted by the closure of schools,” the press release stated.
Broward County Superintendent Vickie Cartwright also alluded to the setbacks caused by the pandemic.
“We want all students to be reading on grade level or higher and reduce the pandemic’s impact on student learning, particularly on our youngest learners,” she said.
Between 2015 and 2018, the percent of Broward County third-graders who scored at or above grade level increased by at least 2 percentage points annually, though the scores hovered around the mid-50s. By 2019, that had risen to 60 percent.
But by 2021, the first year of tests after the pandemic’s onset, the percentage of students scoring a passing grade had once again dropped to 53%. Annual tests were canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
A similar scenario played out in Miami-Dade schools.
In 2015, 53% of third-graders scored a Level 3 or above, climbing to 61% in 2018. In 2019, however, that number dipped slightly to 60%.
Like Broward, Miami-Dade’s test results dropped in 2021, with 57% of students achieving a Level 3 or above, records show.
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Still, following this year’s results, Miami-Dade Superintendent Jose Dotres said staff was “very proud of the work of our students, teachers and families.”
“Despite the high number of students living in poverty in our district, many of whom are English Language Learners, Miami-Dade County Public Schools continues to outperform the state of Florida and other large districts,” he said.
Concerns about learning loss, achievement gap
Since the onset of the pandemic, educators have worried about the learning losses students have faced during the past two years.
And ahead of this school year, they made tackling the issue a top priority.
In both districts, officials said they’d hire more teachers and tutors and academic and mental health counselors to help students get back on track.
On Friday, Dotres, the Miami-Dade superintendent, told the Herald that staff is “strategically using all available resources to provide interventions and extended instructional opportunities to address any unfinished learning and accelerate our students forward.”
