TALLAHASSEE — Florida ranks third in the nation for K-12 Achievement according to a new 2020 Quality Counts report by Education Week. This is a move up from fouth in 2019 and the highest ranking ever in K-12 Achievement for the Sunshine State. Florida’s K-12 Achievement grade also improved to B-, which is higher than the nation’s grade of C.

“Florida continues to raise the achievement standards for our K-12 schools,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “My administration in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Florida Legislature is committed to providing the consistent support and resources to make sure our children can succeed with the best education provided.”

“I am grateful for Florida’s ranking in K-12 Achievement, a clear measure of the collective hard work of our students, their families, our teachers and school leaders. Florida’s hardworking teachers and families have endured much through our response and recovery and we have them to thank for continuing to keep our students on track, learning and growing,” said Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. “And we must not rest on this success. With the implementation of the Florida B.E.S.T. standards, early learning and literacy initiatives, lifting up our struggling schools and at-risk students and providing access to higher quality acceleration and career pathways courses, we must continue to close all manner of achievement gaps, so that Florida’s students can become #1 in the nation.”

The K-12 Achievement index is comprised of six indicator areas: Achievement Levels, Achievement Gains, Poverty Gap, Achieving Excellence, High School Graduation and Advanced Placement. To develop the measure, Education Week used NAEP performance data, College Board data and graduation data from the U.S. Department of Education.

Highlights of the September 2020 Quality Counts report include:
• Florida’s rank for the K-12 Achievement category increased from fourth to third.
• Florida outperforms the nation in 15 of the 18 K-12 Achievement measures.

• Florida’s K-12 Achievement score is higher than the nation.
• Florida is ranked second in the nation for improving the high school graduation rate.
• Florida is ranked third for improvement in grade four mathematics.
• Florida is ranked fourth for improvement in grade eight reading.
• Florida is ranked fourth for improving the grade four poverty gap.
• Florida is ranked sixth for proficiency in grade four mathematics.
• Florida is ranked seventh for the size of its grade four reading poverty gap.
• Florida is ranked seventh for improving the grade eight poverty gap.
• Florida is ranked eighth for improvement in grade four reading.
• Florida is ranked seventh in the nation for improving high advanced placement test scores and 9th in the nation for having grade 11 and 12 students with high advanced placement test scores.
• Florida is ranked seventh in the nation for improving high advanced placement test scores and ninth in the nation for having grade 11 and 12 students with high advanced placement test scores.

The September 2020 installment of the Quality Counts report provides overall grades and scores based on 39 indicators in three broad categories. For more information, visit www.edweek.org.