Florida tests your child’s math skills three times this year. According to the Florida Department of Education, PM1 (Progress Monitoring 1) and PM2 (Progress Monitoring 2) are for informational purposes only, while PM3 (Progress Monitoring 3) is used for school accountability.
The first two rounds track how your student is doing along the way.
We've watched this calendar play out with Brevard County families for years, and your child gains more from catching a gap early than from any single score.
Here's what each FAST score means for your child and the steps that help you match what you're seeing at home to the right kind of support.
Many Brevard County schools finish FAST's first testing window well before the state's own deadline arrives.
You’ll see this first round labeled PM1 on school communications about FAST testing. Florida sets a broad scheduling range for it, so your child's school decides the exact days.
For grades 3–8 math, schools can test anytime between August 10 and September 25 this school year; for grades K–2 math, the window runs August 3 to September 25, according to the state’s 2026–27 FAST fact sheets.
Viera Middle School, for instance, scheduled PM1 for seventh and eighth graders on August 26–27 in 2025, with make-up and small-group sessions from August 28 through September 26, according to the school's own testing announcement.
If you plan around the state's cutoff, your student's test day may already have come and gone by the time you start preparing.
Your child faces three different math checkpoints in Brevard County this year, and each one does a different job. PM1 sets a baseline for your student in the fall.
By winter, PM2 rechecks that starting point. Only the spring score, called PM3, becomes part of your learner's official record.
PM1 opens the testing year for Brevard County families between August 10 and September 25 this school year for grades 3–8 math (and August 3–September 25 for grades K–2 math), according to the FLDOE fact sheets.
Florida treats this first round as informational only for school accountability purposes. Try not to worry about a low PM1 score. It won't affect your school's accountability rating or count as an official student achievement designation, though the results are still shared with you and your child's teacher.
Your student can still treat a rough PM1 result as useful information. You still have months to close a gap you spot in August, well before the score that counts arrives and winter closes in.
Florida's Statewide Assessments Portal provides sample items for FAST reading and math. Sit down with your student and try a few together so the format feels familiar before test day.
PM2 checks on your child's progress since PM1, using the same grade-level material. It runs between November 30 and January 22 for grades K–10 ELA and K–8 math, according to the FLDOE fact sheets. Like PM1, Florida treats this round as informational only.
Your student answers questions drawn from the same grade-level blueprint as PM1. If a gap surfaced in the fall and nothing changed since then, PM2 tends to show it again.
For grades 3–8 math, PM3 runs between May 3 and May 28, and this is the score Florida uses for school accountability and your child's end-of-year summative result. For grades K–2, the PM3 window runs April 12–May 28.
You've likely spent the fall and winter watching for signs of a gap. If nothing changed by spring, PM3 is where that gap finally shows up on paper.
The three scores alone won't tell you exactly what to work on at home, but the reporting categories and sample items can point toward which skills need attention before the next window arrives. The same skills carry across all three rounds, and you can address a gap the moment you spot it.
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You can usually clear up a new, isolated gap with a few focused practice sessions at home. When the same gap keeps resurfacing, it calls for more structured support.
Before you decide how to respond, pin down which skill is behind the struggle. "My child is bad at math" is too broad to act on. "My child mixes up negative numbers when subtracting" is a specific challenge you can fix.
Ask your child to walk through one problem out loud.
For example, give them -5 - (-8) and ask them to explain each step. If your child answers -13, they're treating the second negative sign as another subtraction instead of flipping it to addition, right where the misconception lives.
The exact spot where the reasoning breaks down usually shows itself fast. PM1 and PM2 test the same material, so you can compare those two scores side by side to spot that same skill from a different angle.
Match your practice at home to both the skill and how often the problem shows up. If you're only seeing one rough week of homework, a few short, focused sessions on that one skill should clear it up. Spread them across several days instead of cramming them into one sitting.
Researchers Doug Rohrer and Kelli Taylor found that college students who practiced math problems across two separate sessions retained far more four weeks later than students who crammed the same number of problems into one sitting. Students who piled extra practice into a single session saw no difference in how much they retained.
You'll likely build the skill more reliably with twenty focused minutes, three times a week, than with one long session the night before a test.
When the same skill keeps resurfacing at the next PM window, or your child's avoidance doesn't budge despite practice, reach out to a tutor. You'll get further with that kind of support than with another worksheet at home.
Research on math anxiety in children, published through the National Institutes of Health, found that anxiety can interfere with working memory, the exact resource your student needs to solve a problem.
Your child may feel more pressure than progress from more home practice at that point.
When a tutor steps in, you get distance from your child's anxiety and expertise in exactly the skill underneath it. Most tutors start with a diagnostic assessment to pin down what's going on, then build a plan around it.
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Set a reminder to recheck the specific skill about a month before the next PM window opens, using a problem similar to the one that first revealed the gap. If your child solves it independently and explains the reasoning, the plan is working. If it isn't, that gives you time to adjust before the score arrives.
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance recommends screening for potential math difficulties as early in the year as possible. You don't need a report card or a FAST window to open or close first.
These four steps work the same way whether you handle them at home or bring in outside help, all year, through every PM window. Here's how that kind of support works at Mathnasium of Viera.
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A Mathnasium tutor works through a practice problem with a student in Viera, building the skills her next FAST window will test.
Mathnasium of Viera is a math-only learning center dedicated to helping PreK-12 students of all skill levels excel in math, whether they need to catch up, keep up, or get ahead.
We use the Mathnasium Method™, our proprietary teaching approach, to help students develop a deep understanding of math.
Here's how it works.
Every student begins with a diagnostic assessment that helps us understand their current skill level, knowledge gaps, goals, and how they think and feel about math. For a family already navigating FAST in Brevard County, that can mean identifying the exact skill behind a flat PM1 to PM2 score before PM3 arrives.
Using these insights, we build a personalized learning plan focused on the skills your student needs most, whether that means closing a specific gap, reinforcing an earlier foundation, or building toward the math your student will face at every FAST window this year.
Our specially trained tutors follow that plan closely and provide face-to-face instruction in a small-group setting that's caring and fun. They use mental, verbal, visual, tactile, and written techniques to match the way your student learns best and help them build true math understanding.
Our tutors encourage independent problem-solving, so your student builds critical thinking, resilience, and the confidence to trust their own reasoning, on test day and beyond.
We keep it fun, too, through game-based activities, rewards, and consistent encouragement that keep your student engaged while closing gaps and building math skills, all year long.
Families see this progress firsthand:
94% of parents report an improvement in their child's math skills and understanding
93% of parents report their child's improved attitude toward math after attending Mathnasium
90% of students saw an improvement in their school grades
For families already thinking about building math support into their whole year, Mathnasium of Viera offers a Math Test Prep program that aligns instruction directly with Florida's B.E.S.T. Mathematics Standards, the same standards behind FAST. For parents in Viera, Suntree, Melbourne, and Viera West, a free diagnostic assessment is a great place to start.
📅 Schedule a Free Assessment at Mathnasium of Viera
Not near Viera?
Mathnasium of Viera is a math-only learning center for K-12 students in Melbourne, FL. Trusted by over a million parents, Mathnasium uses personalized learning plans and the proprietary Mathnasium Method™ to help students catch up, keep up, and get ahead on their math journey.
Our specially trained tutors deliver face-to-face instruction in a supportive and fun small-group environment, working with students both in center and online to develop a deep understanding of math, build confidence, and improve academic performance.
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