The 2024–2025 FAST (Florida Assessment of Student Thinking) results for Norma Butler Bossard Elementary School in Miami-Dade provide a clear picture of academic performance trends across grade levels and subjects. The data reveals strengths, challenges, and opportunities for targeted improvement, with Math performance leading the way while English Language Arts (ELA) lags behind in several grades.
A total of 513 students participated in the FAST assessments.
Math: 436 students performed at or above grade level.
ELA: 363 students performed at or above grade level.
This means roughly 85% of Math students and 71% of ELA students achieved proficiency, highlighting Math as the stronger subject schoolwide.
On average, 78% of all students met standards, with only 7% at Level 1, the lowest performance band requiring substantial support. Encouragingly, the largest group of students falls into Level 4 (33%), showing solid performance with potential for growth into Level 5.
ELA: 68% met the standard. This is the weakest ELA result among the grades, signaling a need for intervention at early literacy levels.
Math: 81% met the standard, stronger than ELA but still lower compared to older grades.
Analysis: Third grade represents a transition year where foundational literacy is tested rigorously. The gap between Math and ELA here suggests that reading comprehension and language mastery require greater emphasis.
ELA: 71% met the standard.
Math: 89% met the standard, one of the school’s strongest outcomes.
Analysis: Fourth-grade Math scores are impressive, reflecting strong numeracy and problem-solving instruction. However, ELA lags behind by 18 percentage points, which indicates reading and writing skills aren’t keeping pace with mathematical abilities.
ELA: 73% met the standard.
Math: 84% met the standard.
Analysis: Both ELA and Math outcomes show balanced but moderate success. The Math advantage persists, but unlike Grade 4, the gap between the two subjects is narrower. Still, nearly 30% of students are not meeting ELA standards, which could hinder middle school readiness.
ELA: Data not reported in detail within the FAST summary.
Math: 100% of students met the standard. Every single sixth grader achieved grade-level expectations, an exceptional result.
Analysis: Sixth-grade Math is the standout achievement of the school’s FAST performance. It underscores effective instruction and possibly strong student engagement in mathematics at the upper elementary level. However, without comparable ELA data for Grade 6, it is difficult to gauge whether the same success extends across subjects.
When we compare subjects across grades:
Math consistently outperforms ELA. The lowest Math proficiency (Grade 3 at 81%) is still higher than the highest ELA proficiency (Grade 5 at 73%).
Grade 6 Math (100%) is the school’s peak performance, while Grade 3 ELA (68%) is the lowest-performing area.
The proficiency gap between Math and ELA is evident at every grade level, ranging from 8 points in Grade 5 to 18 points in Grade 4.
This suggests that while numerical reasoning is a strength for students, literacy skills—particularly in the earlier grades—require targeted attention.
The performance spread across all grades shows:
Level 5 (highest): 22% of students
Level 4: 33%
Level 3: 23%
Level 2: 15%
Level 1 (lowest): 7%
This distribution demonstrates that while a significant share of students are excelling (Level 4 and 5 combined = 55%), there remains a meaningful portion (22% at Level 1 or 2) who are at risk of falling behind.
To address gaps and sustain growth, the report highlights key strategies:
The report projects that implementing these measures—especially teacher training—could lead to up to a 21 percentile improvement in student performance, strengthening both Math and ELA outcomes.
The FAST 2024–2025 results for Norma Butler Bossard Elementary paint a picture of a school excelling in Mathematics but facing ongoing challenges in English Language Arts. With nearly 80% of students overall meeting grade-level standards, the foundation is solid, but strategic focus on literacy—especially at Grade 3—is critical to ensure that students not only calculate with confidence but also read, analyze, and communicate effectively.