Picture courtesy of ThoughtCo.com

MIAMI – Florida students are reading below reading level during the post COVID-19 pandemic, as they are struggling to regain the top notched skill that previously put the state in the top 30.

According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, no Florida school district has returned to the 2019 reading levels, as on average, students are over three-quarters of a grade level their 2019 peers.

The latest Education Scorecard (2022–2025) shows Florida ranks 35th out of 35 states in reading growth, with the average student performing about .69 grade equivalents below 2019 levels. Chronic absenteeism remains a concern, still nearly 9 percentage points above pre-pandemic rates.

Florida continues to face significant reading achievement gaps, with many students and districts still far below pre-pandemic performance levels which experts call a reading recession.

The Florida Department of Education’s Reading Achievement Initiative for Scholastic Excellence (RAISE) identifies schools with students in kindergarten through grade 5 where 50 percent or more score below a Level 3 on the statewide ELA assessment in any grade, or where progress monitoring shows 50 percent are not on track to pass the grade 3 ELA test.

These schools receive targeted support from State Regional Literacy Directors, including professional learning aligned to the science of reading, B.E.S.T. ELA standards, and literacy coaching.