New third-grade reading law could block thousands of special ed student from advancing to fourth grade

A major change in Oklahoma’s education system is about to kick in. Under new provisions of the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA), third-grade students who do not attain a satisfactory score on a state standardized  reading test will be retained in… Read more [More...]

Do schools matter?

In a report released last month (and summarized on our blog here), researchers at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University found major flaws in Oklahoma’s A-F grading system for schools. The Fallin administration recently jumped to the defense… Read more [More...]

Flawed A-F school grading system won’t help to improve schools (Guest Post: Ryan Miskell)

Ryan Miskell is an OK Policy Research Fellow and a research associate with the Oklahoma Center for Education Policy. He is working on his Ph.D. in Education Leadership and Policy Studies from The University of Oklahoma. He is a contributing… Read more [More...]

Action Items for Oklahoma: Education

Oklahoma’s students show up at school bringing diverse skills and backgrounds. Some have supportive parents who read to them every night; others are still learning English. Some are provided with the best tutors; others don’t have enough to eat at home. Oklahoma has a duty to teach all of these children. This report recommends action items for Oklahoma to better fulfill that duty... Read more. [More...]

Report: Oklahoma has made the deepest school funding cuts in the nation

A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that Oklahoma has made the deepest cuts to school funding in the nation since the start of the recession. The report is a follow-up of last year’s study… Read more [More...]

Report confirms that for states, investing in education is key to prosperity

The best way for Oklahoma to grow its economy is by investing in a well-educated workforce, according to a new paper from the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN), a project of the Economic Policy Institute. In “A Well-Educated Workforce… Read more [More...]

Summer Rerun: Oklahoma’s per pupil spending has plummeted

This post originally ran in September 2012. We’ve updated it with discussion of this year’s state funding of schools. Oklahoma’s economy has performed relatively well over the course of the Great Recession, compared to the nation as a whole. We’ve… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s education policy is on the right track (Guest Post: John Thompson)

John Thompson is a former Oklahoma historian and inner city teacher who is now an education writer focusing on inner city schools. The accountability-driven school “reform” movement argues that schools are so broken that the only answer is rapid and… Read more [More...]

Fresh out of bootstraps: Oklahoma de-funds adult education

Oklahoma’s adult education centers have historically offered low or no-cost GED prep courses, basic math and literacy instruction, and English as a second language (ESL) classes in every county in the state.  But for two – going on three –… Read more [More...]

No, Common Core is not a ‘federal takeover’ of schools

Last week, with just days remaining in the Legislative session, House Speaker T.W. Shannon made a surprising announcement. He said that he would put forward a measure to repeal Common Core standards in Oklahoma schools.  Oklahoma lawmakers voted to adopt… Read more [More...]