It’s been almost five years since schools were closed down and students needed to do online learning during the pandemic. Now there is a post-COVID-19 report card for student performance nationwide and in the Sunshine State.

The state’s 8th-grade reading score was below the national average for the first time since 2015, and its 8th-grade math score was the lowest in 20 years.

Florida’s reading and math scores have dropped to their lowest levels in two decades, reflecting ongoing struggles in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Florida has five of the nation’s 10 largest school districts based on enrollment. Miami-Dade County ranks third in the latest figures, with more than 335,000 students. Holding down spots six through nine are Broward,

In the year 2000, a time capsule was buried within a wall near the chapel of Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, and now staff members are revealing what was found inside.

The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin.

USF public health professor Donna Petersen says collaboration was critical in helping community leaders respond to the pandemic. In hindsight, she says interventions like shutdowns were in place too long.

U.S. prosecutors are charging former state Rep. Carolina Amesty with stealing from the federal government’s COVID-19 relief funds, the latest humiliating turn in the career of a woman once viewed as a rising star in the Florida GOP.

Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty is accused of fraudulent activity involving COVID-19 relief funds, according to federal complaint filed on Thursday

The big story: Florida has five of the nation’s 10 ... districts have seen their enrollments decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine of the top 10 districts experienced dips, some as high ...

Among the states that saw reading scores fall in 2024 are Florida and Arizona, which were among the first to return to the classroom during the pandemic.

Given every two years to a sample of America’s children, the National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered one of the best gauges of the academic progress of the U.S. school system. The most recent exam was administered in early 2024 in every state, testing fourth- and eighth-grade students on math and reading.