Recent Articles

What the Texas backlash against high-stakes testing means for Oklahoma (Guest Blog: John Thompson)

Dr. John Thompson taught for 19 years in Oklahoma City.  He blogs for This Week in Education, the Huffington Post, School Matters, Living in Dialogue, and elsewhere.  His book, Getting Schooled: Battles Within and Without the Urban Classroom, is under… Read more [More...]

Evidence mounts for Oklahoma ballot access reform (Guest Blog: Zachary Knight)

Zachary Knight is a former Elector for Gary Johnson, an independent voter, and Chief Editor of OKVoterChoice.org. For nearly four decades, Oklahoma has had some of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. In 1974, Democratic legislators passed… Read more [More...]

Home visiting programs work for young children, their parents and Oklahoma (Guest Blog: Paul Shinn)

Paul Shinn is Public Policy Analyst for CAP Tulsa, which helps families succeed through early childhood education and other support programs. He can be reached at pshinn@captc.org Earlier this month a House committee passed HB 1063, which would suspend most… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Dr. John Schumann): Helmet heads and common sense

John Henning Schumann, a writer and doctor in Tulsa, runs the Internal Medicine residency at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine. An earlier version of this post ran on his Glass Hospital blog. He is on Twitter @GlassHospital… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Sarah Morice-Brubaker): Enter the tenthers

Sarah Morice-Brubaker is Assistant Professor of Theology at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, and a regular blogger for the online religion magazine Religion Dispatches. The Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act has been reintroduced this legislative session as HB 2021, after twice… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Shelley Cadamy Munoz): As good as it gets

Shelley Cadamy Munoz, a Tulsa resident, is the adoptive mother of three children. This post first appeared on her blog on January 20, 2013 and is reposted with permission. Usually when I write, I try to come up with some… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Kevin Burr): Arming teachers is no solution

Kevin Burr is Superintendent of Sapulpa Public Schools. This post was originally submitted to the Sapulpa Daily Herald in response to  a proposal by Rep. Mark McCullough (R-Sapulpa) to allow CLEET-certified teachers to carry firearms on school campuses. The nation… Read more [More...]

John Thompson: The A-F Report Card is just the start of the conversation about school quality

Dr. John Thompson taught for 19 years in the inner city.  He blogs for This Week in Education, the Huffington Post, School Matters, Living in Dialogue, and elsewhere.  His book, Getting Schooled: Battles Within and Without the Urban Classroom, is… Read more [More...]

Barry Friedman: The end of the metaphor

Barry Friedman is a regular contributor to the OK Policy Blog. He writes the column, “Barry Friedman At Large” for Tulsa People Magazine, is a  stand-up comedian, and is the author of two books, “Road Comic” and “Funny You Should… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Jonathan Willner): Public school grades – what’s really being graded?

Dr. Jonathan Willner is Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at Oklahoma City University. After considerable controversy and delay, the State Department of Education released its A-F report cards for all Oklahoma public schools in late… Read more [More...]