As you know, Florida has adopted new state education standards and changed the way testing is done in our schools.  The new Florida Assessment of Student Thinking - or FAST - is a progress monitoring assessment for reading and math that will be administered in pre-kindergarten through tenth grade, three times per year, to track your student’s progress in learning the required reading and mathematics materials within Florida’s Benchmarks of Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards.  The assessments are taken on a computer or tablet. The questions get easier or more difficult depending on how the student responds, and each student will see different questions from a common question bank. Each test will provide 35–40 questions that will cover the entire year’s lessons, including material that has not yet been covered by the teacher.

The results of the first assessment will only be used to help teachers understand what areas to focus on with students. It is important that students take the assessment seriously, so teachers have accurate information to use for planning future lessons. The district will send communications to all families about how to access your child's results when they are available.

You can find more information about the test and see sample questions at flfast.org/families. Once on the site, just select the grade band appropriate for your child.

More information about the BEST standards and the new state assessments can be found at https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/best/.

Additional Resources:

• www.fldoe.org/fast
• www.flfast.org
• 2022–23 FAST Grades 3–10 ELA Reading and Grades 3–8 Mathematics Fact Sheet (PDF)