Oklahoma’s State Highlights

Summary of Grades

Oklahoma scores above average in three of the four graded policy categories in Quality Counts.

In standards and accountability, Oklahoma earns full credit for holding schools accountable for their performance. However, it shows room for improvement in the area of assessments. Although the state has assessments aligned to its standards in all of the four core subject areas, the tests rely heavily on multiple-choice items.

Oklahoma again earns an above-average grade for teacher quality. It scores particularly well for its efforts to provide support and training for new and veteran teachers. But the state has a weaker showing in the area of accountability for teacher quality. For example, Oklahoma does not include information about teacher qualifications on school report cards.

The state’s performance on school climate indicators is average. Oklahoma loses points on school safety because state law does not enforce specific penalties for incidents of school violence. But the state fares relatively well on measures of class and school size. Compared to the average state, a higher percentage of students in Oklahoma attend smaller schools.

The state earns an above-average resource equity grade. Its wealth-neutrality score indicates that poorer districts in the state tend to have higher per-pupil funding levels than do wealthier districts. Oklahoma is one of only 10 states in which this pattern is found.

Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding.