Latest news with #OklahomaStateReportCard
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Making the grade: Go behind the scenes of some of Oklahoma City's top-performing schools
Students, teachers, backpacks, pencils and books are all hallmarks of any public school in Oklahoma, though some may have 2,000 kids in the building while others seat just 200 or less. But what factors make some of those schools academic leaders? Each year, public schools in Oklahoma are graded on the Oklahoma State Report Card, which measures six indicators — academic growth, chronic absenteeism, academic achievement, English language proficiency progress, postsecondary opportunities and graduation — in an effort to provide a snapshot of school performance. Each indicator receives a specific point value that translates to a letter grade. The Oklahoman looked at individual report cards for each of the 526 public school campuses in 10 counties in central Oklahoma — Canadian, Cleveland, Grady, Kingfisher, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, Oklahoma, Payne and Pottawatomie — to determine how many 'A' schools there were in all of those counties. For the 2023-24 school year, only a combined 34 school campuses in those 10 counties received an "A." Armed with that information, The Oklahoman recently visited five schools in central Oklahoma — a suburban high school, a suburban elementary school, a K-12 elementary and high school, a charter school and a school in a dependent district. Among the questions: What are their formulas for success, and what can they teach other schools across the metropolitan area and the rest of Oklahoma? Through interviews with superintendents, principals and teachers, here's a look at how schools like Deer Creek High School in Oklahoma County, Lomega High School and Elementary School in Kingfisher County, Maple Public School in Canadian County, Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in Norman and Dove Science Academy in Oklahoma City received an "A" on the latest report card — and what they shared that make their schools successful. At the schools in this small rural farming community, it's not just the work of educators and parents, it's also the work ethic of the students that contribute to their success. Here's how they're meeting those high expectations. Maple serves only about 200 students, but it's developed a reputation as one of Oklahoma's best school districts. Their 'off-the-formula' makeup might be a key reason why. These tuition-free, STEM-focused charter schools largely serve low-income students, but the students are only part of the picture. Here's how faculty get the entire family involved. This school is one of the few city-area schools to get an 'A' grade. A special focus on their teachers helps keep their staff energized and always learning. This school in Edmond is already big at 2,000 students, and is rapidly growing. Here's a look at how they're keeping up with their students' rapidly changing needs. Here is a look at the schools in the Oklahoma City area that earned an "A" on the Oklahoma State Report Cards: Canadian County Maple Public School (Calumet) Piedmont Early Childhood Center Cleveland County Brink Junior High School (Moore) Oakridge Elementary School (Moore) Roosevelt Elementary School (Norman) South Lake Elementary School (Moore) Wayland Bonds Elementary School (Moore) Grady County Amber-Pocasset High School Middleberg Public School (Blanchard) Pioneer Public School (Chickasha) Kingfisher County Lomega Elementary School Lomega High School Lincoln County None Logan County Mulhall-Orlando High School McClain County Blanchard Intermediate Elementary School Blanchard Middle School Oklahoma County Academy of Seminole Charter High School (based in Oklahoma City) Bethany High School Bethany Middle School Classen SAS (Oklahoma City) Clegern Elementary School (Edmond) Cross Timbers Elementary School (Edmond) Deer Creek High School Deer Creek Intermediate School Dove Science Academy Elementary School (Warr Acres) Dove Science Academy High School (Oklahoma City) Dove Science Academy Middle School (Warr Acres) Edmond North High School Edmond Santa Fe High School Harding Charter Preparatory High School (Oklahoma City) Oakdale Public School (Edmond) Santa Fe South Pathways Mid-College (Oklahoma City) Payne County Richmond Elementary School (Stillwater) Sangre Ridge Elementary School (Stillwater) Westwood Elementary School (Stillwater) Pottawatomie County None This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: These OKC schools got an A on the Oklahoma State Report Card
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Claremore gets failing grade for absenteeism; Sequoyah, Verdigris above state average
Claremore High School and Will Rogers Junior High School both scored an "F" for chronic absenteeism on the Oklahoma State Report Card. Sequoyah and Verdigris' middle and high schools had better attendance than the state average during the 2023-2024 school year. The Oklahoma Department of Education released its 2023-2024 report card of Oklahoma schools in December 2024. It's available online at The report card considers a student chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of school days in a given year. During the 2023-2024 year, 80.97% of students in Oklahoma were not chronically absent. This was a 1% improvement from the previous year and bumped the state's absenteeism score up from an "F" to a "D." The state rated Claremore, Sequoyah and Verdigris public schools' attendance as follows: — Will Rogers Junior High School: 68.29% of students in good attendance (F) — Claremore High School: 67.37% in good attendance (F) — Sequoyah Middle School: 89.23% in good attendance (C) — Sequoyah High School: 84.03% in good attendance (D) — Verdigris Junior High School: 87.7% in good attendance (C) — Verdigris High School: 87.12% in good attendance (C) Bryan Frazier, superintendent of Claremore Public Schools, said chronic absenteeism isn't just a Claremore problem. He said schools and workplaces across the country are feeling the effects of COVID-19 pandemic in their attendance numbers. "Absenteeism is a nationwide problem," Frazier said. "I don't want to speculate too much, but yeah, I think COVID does have something to do with that. I think that there was that time that people checked out, and it's true of even employment." Chronic absenteeism has risen in Oklahoma since the pandemic. About 85% of Oklahoma students were in good attendance in 2018 and 2019; since 2022, that has dropped to about 80% each year (the state doesn't have data for the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 years). Mike Payne, Verdigris' superintendent, said though his schools' attendance surpasses the state average, the pandemic put the district's attendance lower than he wants it to be. Payne said attendance could stay lower than pre-pandemic because COVID-19 conditioned families to keep kids home when they're sick. "We've had so much flu and all kind of things, so our attendance is probably going to look a little different next year," Payne said. "But everybody's will be, right? ... We don't want [students] here with a 105 degree temperature." Frazier said absenteeism is a particularly important issue at Claremore High School because the school operates on a block schedule. Students take four 90-minute classes a semester, meaning they miss more instruction with each absence than they would if classes were shorter. Frazier wants to transition Claremore High School from a block schedule to a seven-period school day to remedy this. The Claremore Public Schools Board of Education took no action on a proposal to adopt a seven-period school day at a meeting in February. Frazier said chronic absenteeism is largely out of the district's control — he said districts can encourage students to come to school, but can't force them to board the bus. "It has to do with area culture and socio-economics," Frazier said. "... We have to do all we can to get kids here, but again, it's part of our grade that probably shouldn't be in there." Many state lawmakers agree. Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, chairs the Senate Education Committee and has filed a bill to replace chronic absenteeism on the report card with a survey. Reps. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City, and Ronny Johns, R-Ada, have advanced similar bills. Terry Saul, superintendent of Sequoyah Public Schools, said Sequoyah has developed a culture in which administrators, teachers and bus drivers all do their part to intervene when a student starts missing too much school. "Our method has just been more contact, way, way, way more contact, even if that means a home visit, even if that means sometimes going out and picking a kid up with school resource officer," Saul said. "The fortunate thing at Sequoyah is you're not dealing with that many students, so it's easier to hone in on a smaller group of kids." Denton Holland, Verdigris' technology director, said Verdigris also benefits attendance-wise from its small student population. Holland said Verdigris will continue to prioritize improving its attendance rate. "Attendance is a big deal because ... if the kid's not here, how are we going to teach them?" Holland said. "How are we going to educate the student that's not here? Societally, it's a growing problem everywhere."
