Of the 9,884 Highlands County School District students who took part in the math section of the 2023-24 FAST, 43.4% met the testing standard while 9.9% exceeded expectations, according to the Florida Department of Education.
The number of Highlands County School District students who succeeded on the test grew by 2.7% from the previous school year.
Highlands County School District’s proficiency level in math stood at 53.3% in the 2023-24 school year, 2.3% lower than the state’s average of 55.6%.
During the 2023-24 school year, Nassau County School District students fared the best on the math portion of the FAST, with 77% of them succeeding. Meanwhile Hendry County School District students did worst on math, with 35.2% of the students passing the test.
There were 10,284 students enrolled in Highlands County School District schools in the 2023-24 school year.
Florida ranks near the bottom nationwide in academic recovery since the pandemic, according to the 2025 Education Recovery Scorecard. The state placed 36th in math and 45th in reading recovery between 2019 and 2024, with the lowest reading gains in the nation from 2022 to 2024. Students remain more than half a grade behind in math and nearly a full grade behind in reading, with no district returning to its 2019 reading levels.
| School Year | Students who met standards (%) | Students who exceeded standards (%) | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 43.4% | 9.9% | 10,284 |
| 2022-23 | 43.5% | 8.3% | 22,912 |
