• Florida Assessment of Student Thinking
     

    FAST Overview

    In March 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis signed new legislation that replaces the grade-level Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics with the Coordinated Screening and Progress Monitoring System, also called the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), required in section 1008.25(8), Florida Statutes. This fact sheet provides an overview of the new FAST system for grades 3–10 ELA Reading and grades 3–8 Mathematics that is being administered for the first time during the 2022–23 school year.

    Grades 3–10 FAST Overview

    • Grades 3–10 FAST ELA Reading and grades 3–8 FAST Mathematics assessments are aligned to the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards.

    • Because all FAST assessments are computer-adaptive, items may become progressively harder as students successfully respond to items and easier if students answer more questions incorrectly.

    • FAST assessments are administered three times during each school year: once at the beginning of the year (PM1), once in the middle of the year (PM2), and once at the end of the year (PM3).

    • Each PM event is tied to a blueprint for the full grade-level content. The ELA and Mathematics blueprints show how many items in each reporting category students will encounter during each PM window.

    Here are descriptions of each PM opportunity for students:

    • PM1–because this administration occurs at the very beginning of the school year, it is designed to provide a baseline score so teachers can track student progress in learning the B.E.S.T. Standards from PM1 to PM2.
    • PM2–by the time of this administration window,students will have had an opportunity to learn the grade-level standards, and this administration will provide a mid-year score to compare to the baseline score from PM1.
    • PM3–this last administration will provide a summative score that will accurately measure student mastery of the B.E.S.T. Standards at the end of the school year. While PM1 and PM2 are for informational purposes only, PM3 will be used for school accountability beginning in the 2023–24 school year.