Aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards — Every Lesson, Every Benchmark, Shown

By Erika Nagy, founder of MathKnights and Florida parent of two · Updated July 2026

If you're a Florida family — public school, private school, or homeschool — your child's math world is organized around one framework: the B.E.S.T. Standards (Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking). It's what the classroom teaches, what report cards reflect, and what homeschool evaluators recognize.

Most math apps are aligned to "national standards" — a polite way of saying not Florida's. When we built MathKnights here in Parkland, we made a different choice: every single lesson in the game is designed against a specific Florida B.E.S.T. benchmark, using the state's official benchmark language and clarifications. Not "covers similar topics." Mapped. One lesson, one benchmark, on the record.

What the six strands are (in parent language)

• NSO — Number Sense & Operations: counting, place value, the four operations. The backbone.
• FR — Fractions: from "half of a cookie" to operations with fractions and decimals.
• AR — Algebraic Reasoning: patterns, properties, and equations — thinking tools, years before "algebra class."
• M — Measurement: length, weight, volume, money, and telling time.
• GR — Geometric Reasoning: shapes, angles, perimeter, area, and the coordinate plane.
• DP — Data Analysis & Probability: graphs, tables, and making sense of data.

The full alignment table, grade by grade

This is our internal audit, published. Every row is a real lesson in the game and the Florida benchmark it teaches. (Grade 3 is expanded as an example — tap any grade to open it.)

Benchmark codes and descriptions follow the Florida Department of Education's B.E.S.T. Standards for Mathematics. MathKnights is an independent product and is not endorsed by or affiliated with the Florida DOE.

For Florida homeschool families

Florida's annual evaluation requirement is a lot less stressful when your child's daily practice already speaks the evaluator's language. Because MathKnights adapts to your child — stepping difficulty down when they struggle instead of punishing them — you get benchmark-aligned practice without benchmark-shaped tears. And if you're using Florida scholarship funds to build your curriculum, the FAQ below covers the basics.

Frequently asked questions

What are the Florida B.E.S.T. Standards?

B.E.S.T. stands for Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking — Florida's own academic standards, adopted in 2020 to replace the previous Common Core-based standards. Every Florida public school classroom teaches math to these benchmarks, and Florida homeschool evaluations are typically framed around grade-level expectations that mirror them.

Is MathKnights a full curriculum?

MathKnights is adaptive practice, not a textbook. Many families use it as their core daily math practice alongside a spine or living-math approach; others use it to reinforce what a curriculum or classroom teaches. Because every lesson maps to a specific benchmark, it slots cleanly into whichever role you need.

Does the free plan follow the same alignment?

Yes. The free plan's 8 quests draw from the same benchmark-aligned lesson library. There is no separate 'free curriculum' — and no ads or in-game purchases on any plan.

How does this help with Florida homeschool evaluations?

Florida law requires an annual educational evaluation for homeschooled students. Having your child practice against the same benchmark framework evaluators know — and being able to show which benchmarks were covered — makes that conversation much easier. The table on this page is the same mapping we use internally.

Can I use Step Up for Students or other Florida scholarship funds?

Florida's school-choice scholarships (like Family Empowerment/PEP administered through Step Up for Students) let families direct funds to approved instructional materials and curriculum. Program rules and approved-provider lists change, so check your current program guide (we wrote a plain-English guide to the whole system) — and feel free to email us at hello@mathknights.com with questions.