05-03-2025
Over 5,000 Oklahoma City Public Schools students doubled their projected growth in reading
Over 5,000 Oklahoma City Public Schools students doubled their projected growth in reading from fall to winter 2024 in national achievement tests.
The Northwest Evaluation Association Measuring Academic Progress Growth is an exam that measures what students know and informs what they're ready to learn, according to a presentation given Monday to the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education by Verna Martin, the district's senior executive director of secondary schools, and Laura McGee, OKCPS senior executive director of elementary schools.
The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) projected growth is an estimate of how much a student is expected to improve academically over a specific period based on their current score compared to the average of similar students. It predicts how many Rasch UnIT (RIT) score points a student should gain based on their starting point and grade level. RIT is a measurement scale used to simplify the interpretation of test scores.
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From fall to winter, 5,381 students at Oklahoma City Public Schools doubled their projected growth, according to the presentation, including 1,151 elementary school students, 2,123 middle schoolers and 2,107 high school scholars.
"Each of these 5,381 OKCPS scholars who doubled their projected growth in reading from fall to winter has their own unique story of progress and achievement," Martin said Monday. "We celebrate all of these scholars for their demonstration of perseverance, diligence and academic excellence."
Natalie Johnson-Papageorge, OKCPS elementary principal supervisor, and Shane Sanders, OKCPS secondary principal supervisor, shared stories of individual students who doubled, or more than doubled, their projected growth in reading.
"Our first scholar is from Adams Elementary. A fourth-grader scholar, who is an English language learner, had a projected growth of seven RIT points," Johnson-Papageorge said. "However, through goal setting and his hard work, he achieved 26 growth points from fall to winter."
A second-grader from Bodine Elementary was projected to grow 10 RIT points, but achieved 23, Johnson-Papageorge said.
A seventh-grade student from F.D. Moon Middle School was projected to grow three RIT points, Sanders said. Instead, she grew 13.
An 11th-grade student at John Marshall Enterprise High School achieved the 97th percentile after she exceeded her growth projection of one RIT point and achieved 19 points, Sanders said.
"This is what OKCPS is about," said Board Member Jessica Cifuentes. "We are prioritizing growth within our students. We are using evidence-based practices, and just to see these data points today is incredible and truly so beautiful and awe-inspiring."
The students' achievements are examples of the work being done at Oklahoma City Public Schools through the district's strategic plan, instructional framework, planning, curriculum and support, Johnson-Papageorge said.
"We have to be more focused and intentional with our small groups and differentiated support, and we will continue to see more of our scholars increase their academic growth and academic achievement," Johnson-Papageorge said. "This was just the growth from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year. Stay tuned. The best is yet to come for the end of the school year data."
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKCPS national achievement tests: Students show progress in reading
