1.1 The FAST Architecture & Progress Monitoring System

1.1 The FAST Architecture & Progress Monitoring System

Quick Answer: The Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) replaced the legacy Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) beginning in the 2022–2023 school year, following Senate Bill 1048 of the 2022 legislative session. FDOE describes FAST as Florida's ELA and Mathematics Coordinated Screening and Progress Monitoring system, required in s. 1008.25(9), Florida Statutes, while s. 1008.22, F.S., governs the statewide standardized assessment program that the end-of-year administration feeds. FAST runs in three windows—PM1 (beginning of year), PM2 (middle of year), and PM3 (end of year)—and aligns to Florida's Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards. PM1 and PM2 are for informational purposes only; PM3 is the summative administration used for school accountability, grade 3 promotion, and the grade 10 ELA graduation requirement. Results appear in the Florida Reporting System within 24 hours of a student completing a test.

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The Legislative Transition: From FSA to FAST

For nearly a decade, Florida's public school accountability rested on the Florida Standards Assessments (FSA). The FSA was a traditional, fixed-form, end-of-year assessment designed to measure student mastery of the Common Core-derived Florida Standards. However, educators, parents, and policymakers expressed escalating concern over the "one-shot, high-stakes" nature of the testing regime. Because FSA testing occurred exclusively in the final weeks of the academic year, score reports were returned during summer break—months after students had left their teachers' classrooms. Consequently, scores served an exclusively autopsy-like accountability function rather than providing actionable diagnostic insight to guide instruction.

In March 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1048 (SB 1048) of the 2022 legislative session, which substantially amended ss. 1008.2125, 1008.22, 1008.25, 1008.34, 1008.341, 1008.345, 1008.365, and 1011.62, F.S. The bill created the Coordinated Screening and Progress Monitoring (CSPM) system now codified at s. 1008.25(9), F.S., and made the end-of-year progress monitoring administration the statewide standardized ELA assessment for grades 3-10 and the statewide standardized Mathematics assessment for grades 3-8 under s. 1008.22(3)(a), F.S. Beginning in the 2022–2023 academic year, Florida moved from a single end-of-year comprehensive test to an integrated, three-times-a-year computer-adaptive progress monitoring system branded the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST).

[!IMPORTANT] Cite the right statute. FAST itself is required by s. 1008.25(9), F.S. Section 1008.22, F.S. is the statewide standardized assessment program statute - it is where the grade 10 ELA graduation participation requirement and the EOC rules live. Both matter, and they are not interchangeable.

Alignment with Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards

The launch of FAST coincided with Florida's statewide implementation of the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. Adopted by the State Board of Education in 2020, the B.E.S.T. Standards were explicitly developed to replace Common Core frameworks. Key instructional shifts in the B.E.S.T. Standards include:

• Classical Literature and Rhetoric: ELA standards emphasize foundational phonics, rich classical and historical texts, explicit rhetoric, and cross-genre literary analysis.
• Direct Mathematical Foundations: Mathematics standards prioritize foundational arithmetic fluency, conceptual understanding, procedural skill, and systematic problem-solving, removing complex pedagogical models that previously drew widespread criticism.
• Sequential Benchmark Architecture: Benchmarks are organized with explicit coding across grade levels (e.g., ELA.3.R.1.1 or MA.5.NSO.1.2), creating a unified developmental progression from kindergarten through grade 12.

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The Tri-Annual Progress Monitoring Architecture

The operational core of FAST is its tri-annual progress monitoring calendar. Rather than evaluating student learning at a single isolated moment, FAST measures academic growth across three distinct administrative windows: Progress Monitoring 1 (PM1), Progress Monitoring 2 (PM2), and Progress Monitoring 3 (PM3).

Progress Monitoring 1 (PM1): The Beginning-of-Year Baseline

• Administration Window: FDOE publishes the window annually. For 2026–27 it is August 10 – September 25, 2026. The window is deliberately wide to give schools scheduling flexibility; it does not reflect how long any one school spends testing.
• Testing Scope: Covers the full scope of grade-level B.E.S.T. standards for the enrolled grade.
• Instructional Purpose: Establishes an empirical baseline measurement of student ability ($\theta$) at the start of the academic year. Because students have completed only a few weeks of instruction, they have not yet been taught the majority of grade-level benchmarks. Consequently, scores on PM1 are naturally lower.
• Diagnostic Action: PM1 enables teachers and school leadership teams to evaluate baseline readiness, diagnose foundational prerequisite gaps from prior grades, and form initial instructional groupings under the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework.

Progress Monitoring 2 (PM2): The Middle-of-Year Growth Monitor

• Administration Window: November 30, 2026 – January 22, 2027 for 2026–27.
• Testing Scope: Covers the full scope of grade-level B.E.S.T. standards.
• Instructional Purpose: Evaluates student growth trajectory and learning velocity approximately midway through the curriculum. PM2 measures whether students are progressing at a pace sufficient to achieve grade-level proficiency by spring.
• Diagnostic Action: Schools utilize PM2 data to recalibrate classroom pacing, reconfigure Tier 2 targeted intervention groups, and assign intensive Tier 3 reading or mathematics remediation before high-stakes spring testing.

Progress Monitoring 3 (PM3): The End-of-Year Summative Assessment

• Administration Window: May 3 – May 28, 2027 for 2026–27. PM3 sessions run longer than PM1 and PM2 because they carry embedded field-test items.
• Testing Scope: Covers cumulative mastery across the entire grade-level B.E.S.T. curriculum.
• Instructional Purpose: Serves as the comprehensive, summative evaluation of annual student achievement and longitudinal growth.
• Accountability Action: PM3 is the only progress monitoring administration that carries statutory consequences under Florida law. It provides the empirical data for school performance grades, district ratings, teacher evaluations, Grade 3 retention decisions, and high school graduation requirements.

Every PM Event Covers the Full Blueprint

Each PM event is tied to a blueprint for the full grade-level content, and the published ELA and Mathematics blueprints state how many items in each reporting category a student will encounter during each window:

ELA Reading also holds a 50/50 fiction-to-informational genre balance in every grade band.

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Scope of Tested Grades and Subject Areas

The FAST assessment system encompasses elementary, middle, and early high school students across two primary academic domains:

1. English Language Arts (ELA) Reading:

   • Administered to all public school students in Grades 3 through 10.
   • Encompasses reading comprehension, literary analysis (prose and poetry), informational text analysis, and across-genres vocabulary.
   • Note on Writing: Students in grades 4 through 10 also sit the annual B.E.S.T. Writing assessment - one text-based constructed-response item in a single 120-minute session, in its own spring window. B.E.S.T. Writing is a separate assessment, not part of FAST. FDOE states plainly that B.E.S.T. Writing scores are not combined with FAST ELA Reading to create an overall ELA score, and B.E.S.T. Writing does not factor into student assessment graduation requirements.

2. Mathematics:

   • Administered to public school students in Grades 3 through 8.
   • Encompasses Number Sense and Operations (NSO), Fractions (FR), Algebraic Reasoning (AR), Geometric Reasoning (GR), Measurement (M), and Data Analysis and Probability (DP).

The Middle School Acceleration Rule

A critical policy provision governs middle school mathematics. Under s. 1008.22, F.S., students in grades 6, 7, or 8 who are enrolled in a high school credit-earning mathematics course—Algebra 1 or Geometry, honors or standard—do not take the grade-level FAST Mathematics test. Instead, they participate in the corresponding B.E.S.T. End-of-Course (EOC) assessment. Florida statute explicitly prohibits double-testing: a 7th grader enrolled in Algebra 1 takes only the Algebra 1 EOC, fulfilling both middle school accountability and high school graduation assessment requirements.

Platform Vendor Infrastructure

Florida delivers FAST through two distinct technological vendors depending on grade band:

• Grades 3–10 FAST: Administered through the computer-adaptive testing platform developed by Cambium Assessment, Inc. (CAI), utilizing secure web browsers across desktop computers, Chromebooks, and iPads.
• VPK through Grade 2 FAST: Administered through Renaissance Learning (Star Early Literacy, Star Reading, and Star Math), providing age-appropriate developmental screening for emergent readers and primary learners.

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Diagnostic Feedback vs. High-Stakes Accountability

The defining philosophical breakthrough of FAST is the strict separation between formative diagnostic data (PM1 and PM2) and high-stakes accountability (PM3).

Rapid Diagnostic Feedback (PM1 & PM2)

Under legacy testing, teachers never saw assessment results in time to alter instruction for the students they tested. Under FAST, the CAI system scores computer-adaptive tests in real time. Results are reported in the Florida Reporting System (FRS) within 24 hours of a student completing testing, and families access them through the Family Portal. Teachers see results by benchmark at the student and classroom level; schools and districts see school- and district-level results; and FDOE reports statewide percentile ranks after each window closes.

This rapid turnaround allows teachers to immediately inspect student mastery bands across specific reporting categories. For example, if a 4th-grade teacher discovers during September's PM1 that 65% of their class performed "Below Satisfactory" on Fractions and Decimals, they can immediately restructure their foundational math sequence. Similarly, if December's PM2 shows an individual student stalling in Informational Text Structure, targeted Tier 2 interventions can be deployed for the remaining five months of the school year.

Statutory High-Stakes Accountability (PM3 Only)

While PM1 and PM2 provide vital diagnostic information, Florida law strictly shields students, teachers, and schools from adverse accountability consequences based on fall and winter administrations:

• School Grades (F.S. § 1008.34): The calculation of Florida School Grades (A through F) relies exclusively on PM3 performance and annual learning gains computed between successive spring administrations.
• Teacher Evaluations (VAM): State Value-Added Models measuring instructional growth utilize PM3 data as the summative terminus.
• Student Retention (F.S. § 1008.25): Mandatory retention for third-grade students failing to demonstrate reading proficiency is determined solely by the PM3 ELA Reading administration.
• High School Graduation (F.S. § 1008.22): The Grade 10 ELA graduation milestone is satisfied exclusively through the Grade 10 PM3 assessment (or approved concordant scores).

[!IMPORTANT] Diagnostic Shielding: Low scores on PM1 or PM2 can never be used to retain a student, deny course credit, assign a failing grade, or lower a school's state rating. They exist solely to inform instruction and guide targeted intervention.

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Common Exam Traps & Misconceptions

[!WARNING]

Exam Trap 1: Expecting PM1 to Test Only What Has Been Taught

A pervasive misconception among candidates and parents is that PM1 functions like a classroom unit test, assessing only the content taught during August and September. In reality, PM1 covers the entire grade-level B.E.S.T. curriculum. Because students have received minimal instruction on that curriculum, low scores and Level 1 or Level 2 designations on PM1 are expected and statistically normal. PM1 establishes a baseline from which subsequent growth is measured; it does not indicate academic failure.

[!WARNING]

Exam Trap 2: Believing PM2 Scores Trigger Grade 3 Retention

While school districts frequently issue formal "retention warning letters" following PM2 to alert parents that a child is at risk, PM2 scores cannot legally trigger student retention. Under F.S. § 1008.25, mandatory retention applies strictly to students who score Achievement Level 1 on the PM3 spring assessment without qualifying for a statutory Good Cause Exemption.

[!WARNING]

Exam Trap 3: Requiring Middle School Algebra Students to Take FAST Math

Test questions frequently describe middle school students enrolled in accelerated high school courses. Remember: a middle school student taking high school Algebra 1 or Geometry must take the B.E.S.T. EOC and is exempt from the grade-level FAST Mathematics test. Double-testing is explicitly prohibited under Florida law.