Emerald Coast Times

Of the 823 Walton County students who took part in the 2022-23 school year FAST, 65% met the testing standard while 13% exceeded expectations, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Walton County's proficiency level in the 2022-23 school year was 78%, 23.9% higher than the state's average of 54.1%.

During the 2022-23 school year, Clay County students fared the best on the Algebra portion of the FSA, with 79.4% of them succeeding. Meanwhile Putnam County students did worst on Algebra, with 24.7% of the students passing the test.

There were 11,566 students enrolled in Walton County schools in the 2022-23 school year.

According to WalletHub's analysis, Florida is ranked 9th out of 50 states in terms of its public school quality and safety.

After the pandemic, Florida registered a decline in students' performance, especially in mathematics-related areas.

Florida's choice to stick with in-person classes during the pandemic may have shielded students from significant learning setbacks. A recent Harvard study highlighted that districts heavily reliant on remote learning saw the most significant declines in student achievement amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“Interestingly, gaps in math achievement by race and school poverty did not widen in school districts in states such as Texas and Florida and elsewhere that remained largely in-person,” said Thomas Kane, professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

School Year	Students who met standards (%)	Students who exceeded standards (%)	Total Enrolment
2022-23	65%	13%	11,566