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EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD RELEASES SCHOOL REPORT CARDS, DISTRICT REPORTS AND STATE REPORT; COMMENDS HIGH PERFORMING SCHOOLS
Contact: Robert Buswell or Matt Hesser     
(405) 225-9470
June 12, 2006

 
OKLAHOMA CITY – In a release today of the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program's School Report Cards, the Education Oversight Board (EOB) commended a host of schools for successfully reaching the board's 70% Performance Benchmark on standardized tests during the 2004-2005 school year. The board reserved its highest praise for the 40 Elementary Schools and 2 Middle Schools that have been "Benchmark Schools" for each of the past five years (see attached lists).

"To make the list, a school must have 70% or more of their students scoring "Satisfactory" or "Advanced" in all subject areas tested under the Oklahoma Core Curriculum battery of tests," said Ronald Dryden, Chairman of the Education Oversight Board. "I'm particularly impressed by the performance of students at Cimarron Middle School in Edmond and Carver Middle School in Tulsa. These two schools have met the benchmark for five years in a row. It is a real challenge to get high performance in a transitional level like the 8th Grade; their results are highly commendable!"

In total for the 2004-2005 school year, the EOB recognized 600 Elementary Schools for their performance on the 3rd Grade tests, 688 Elementary Schools for their performance on the 4th Grade tests, 404 Elementary Schools for their performance on the 5th Grade tests, 476 K-8 Elementary, Middle, and Junior High Schools for their performance on the 7th Grade test and 176 K-8 Elementary, Middle, and Junior High Schools for their performance on the 8th grade tests (see attached lists).

In 2004-2005 the state-mandated tests were administered in third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth grades. The number of subject areas tested varied by grade with third and fourth graders being tested in math and reading. Fifth and eighth graders were tested in math, reading, social studies and science while the seventh graders only tested in geography. Students taking high school coursework were tested using End-of-Instruction (EOI) exams for English II, U.S. History, Algebra I, and Biology I. The English and history tests have been administered for five years while the math and science tests have been administered for the past three years.

"A new statistic, the 4-year dropout rate, was introduced in this year's series of reports," announced Ronald Dryden. "With No Child Left Behind coming on the scene, most states, including Oklahoma, have started to report the graduation rate for high school seniors. This statistic, however, doesn't really reflect that high school is a four-year process. The 4-year dropout rate, on-the-other-hand, follows a graduating class of students from 9th grade through graduation and gives a much better indication of student loss over time," commented Dryden.

"Another interesting, and troubling, study included in this year's State Report is the section on the National Assessment of Education Progress or NAEP," said Robert Buswell, Executive Director of the Office of Accountability (O of A). "The Office and the Board have been reporting for several years now that Oklahoma's students, while occasionally making minor gains in some areas, are at the same time losing ground to their national counterparts. The recent NAEP results show further confirmation that the nation as a whole is advancing at a faster pace than Oklahoma," remarked Buswell. "The most recent NAEP results to be included in the State Report cover Math and Reading, and Oklahoma is now scoring below the nation in most categories as well as losing ground to the nation over time."

"Regarding our School Report Cards, the Office of Accountability just passed a real milestone by having over 100,000 cards downloaded during the month of May," said Robert Buswell. "The Office of Accountability prepares the annual reports for the Education Oversight Board at three levels; state, district, and school. Together, these reports provide over 100 statistics regarding the community characteristics, programs, curriculum, budget, and student performance of Oklahoma's public schools," explained Buswell.

"The Office of Accountability has been producing report cards and statistical reports for over ten years and the district report is the office's most comprehensive work," indicated State Senator Susan Paddack, board member and Chair of the Senate Education Committee. "From the very beginning we have had a community grouping model that facilitates comparing a district to its peers. The model considers both district size and district socio-economics and places them into one of 16 possible groups," Paddack explained. "Average performance for the peer group is included on the district report. We feel that comparing districts within the same community group yields the most fair comparisons, and it is our hope that lesser performing districts within a group would contact their better performing peers and obtain "best practices" to employ in their district and improve student performance."

"The challenge to Oklahoma educators is to put all of this data to good use," said Robert Buswell. "Administrators and teachers must work cooperatively across district boundaries to find teaching and administrative techniques that work best for each school's set of circumstances. No two schools are identical, but there are groups of schools that share similar situations and some in the group are performing better than others. By sharing both successes and failures, teachers and administrators can gain from each other's experience," explained Buswell.

"The Office of Accountability serves as the state's one-stop clearinghouse for educational statistics and they share information with anyone that requests it," explained State Representative Odilia Dank, board member and Chair of the House Common Education Committee. "Grant writers use this material extensively and bring millions of additional dollars into the state's public school systems. With the addition of 2004-2005's information there will be nine years worth of Educational Indicator data available on the O of A's web site," said Dank. The board is very pleased with the way the program has been received and believes its success is the result of delivering consistent and meaningful information in addition to providing superior customer service to the public."

The School Report Cards and District Reports are all available on-line at www.SchoolReportCard.org. The report cards are printed and mailed to principals each spring in order that they may distribute copies to parents and patrons by the end of each school year.

For more information about the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program or "Profiles 2005" contact the Office of Accountability at (405) 225-9470, visit www.SchoolReportCard.org or look for these reports in your local library.

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Lists of schools meeting 70% Performance Benchmark in all subject areas tested for the 2004-2005 school: