“Well, maybe they’re just not a reading person.”
When confronted with low literacy rates, no one has ever given the excuse that some people just aren’t cut out to read.
And yet we hear that excuse — “I’m just not a math person” — over and over when it comes to math.
Math and reading are core skills that all students should have to be successful in life, and we know what policies work best to support our students to have lifelong math and reading success.
Thankfully, policymakers are beginning to pay as much attention to math as they’ve long paid to literacy, and Florida has a chance to lead the nation in math policy. We’re already on our way.
In 2023, Florida lawmakers passed legislation that ensures students are identified early for math deficiencies, including dyscalculia, and provided with appropriate supports and interventions. This is the same proven approach we’ve taken for 20 years in literacy.
But there’s a lot more work to do to turn student outcomes around. Our 2024 math performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show Florida eighth-graders rank in the bottom 10 states for performance, and our fourth-grade math performance has been static over the past decade.
Improving these results will require more support for our teachers in the classroom and those who will eventually enter classrooms.
According to a report from the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Florida’s initial teacher preparation programs rank last in the nation for the amount of math content coursework candidates must complete.
A Florida Department of Education report similarly found teacher candidates lack sufficient math content knowledge. It included a recommendation that Florida’s initial teacher preparation programs include at least one additional math course focused on content, particularly in data analysis and probability.
Last session, the Foundation for Florida’s Future advocated for bills that would increase math content in the initial teacher preparation programs. This issue remains unfinished, but we hope the legislature will consider the policy during the 2026 session as part of a broader math agenda based on policy successes elsewhere.
For example, we know that instructional time matters. Alabama recently became the first state to legislatively require that schools provide 60 minutes of uninterrupted math instruction per day for all K-5 students. Maryland used its rulemaking process to ensure all K-8 schools provide 60 minutes of uninterrupted math instruction per day.
These two states are putting their thumb on the scale of what matters most during time-constrained school days. Florida should consider this approach. Policymakers also need to consider what schools are focusing on during math instruction time each day.
ExcelinEd encourages states to focus on four pillars of math instruction: numbers and operations; algebra; geometry; and statistics and data.
While Florida’s B.E.S.T. standards include each of these pillars, our teacher preparation programs leave much to be desired. As Florida begins work toward a math endorsement process for teachers, the four pillars should be core to the content and competencies teachers must acquire.
Beyond instructional time and teacher preparation, Florida policymakers must fix a serious flaw in middle school grade calculation that incentivizes schools to accelerate as many students as possible, including those who might not be ready, into high school coursework at the expense of helping students who are struggling in math.
Which is better for an average student? Taking high school math too early in middle school, earning a “C” and barely passing the end of course test or allowing the student to get a strong middle school math foundation, earn an “A” in high school math and pass the exit exam with flying colors? The latter, of course. However, the school grade calculation encourages the former.
According to state data, 45-48% of middle school students in Florida are accelerated, yet Florida’s grade 8 math performance ranks near the bottom of the nation. That doesn’t add up.
Florida should remove the middle school accelerator component that creates a perverse incentive to push too many kids forward who are not ready and replace it with a policy that guarantees access to advanced math for every student who is objectively ready to handle it. Students shouldn’t be advanced to help schools get a better grade; they should be advanced when they demonstrate the capacity to succeed in higher-level coursework.
Together, this combination of policies, alongside further investment in district and school-level math coaches and safe AI tutoring platforms, can help Florida move from being a math laggard to a math leader in the next decade.
Patricia Levesque is the chief executive officer of ExcelinEd and the executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, based in Tallahassee.
