Avoid overreaction to Oklahoma school report cards
The 2019 Oklahoma school report cards are in, and they bring bad news. Over time, I will be digging deeply into the numbers and seeking nuance. For now, however, a most important issue with the school grades must be kept in mind: The outcomes aren’t nearly as bad as they seem.
The statistics released Monday show the state’s grade for “academic achievement” dropped from a “C” (earning 18.1 out of 35 points) to a “D” (earning 17.6 of 45 points). The score for the number of students prepared for the next grade fell from 52 percent to 39 percent. The points earned for English scores dropped from 6.7 (out of a possible 15 points) to 5.4. math points dropped from 6.3 to 5.2 points. The good news is that “academic growth” scores increased by 9 points.
Oklahoma school report cards
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The Oklahoma City Public Schools earned a 0.9 out of 35 points for academic achievement, down from 1.3 in 2018. Academic growth points remained stable. OKCPS’ math proficiency rates also remained stable overall, but economically disadvantaged students’ proficiency rates dropped 20 percent.
We should all take a deep breath, however, and not assume that those metrics are meaningful. To understand why, let’s focus predominantly on the math standards.
New standards provide ‘top 10’ metric, but please be realistic
As State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister explained recently, she took office in 2015 and was tasked with replacing Common Core standards and tests with new, rigorous standards and assessments. To her credit, Hofmeister has not supported high stakes testing. But politically speaking, it is easy to see why she implemented tests CONTINUE READING: Avoid overreaction to Oklahoma school report cards