Light enters first State Board meeting under Supt. Fields
The State Department of Education’s recommendations of “Accredited with Warning” will return to SBE’s agenda October 23 though members were quick to laud improvement at Western Heights.
Sadly, I must admit that I was not the first person on today’s Facebook Live meeting of the State Board of Education who noticed the lighting. … After a gal named Kimi pointed it out, I was in awe of how smart a move that was! It didn’t just improve the ambience, it served as a symbol of opening a government process to the public. Superintendent Fields and this Board may not always be as open as they were today; but as secret as the proceedings were under the previous state superintendent, it’s a welcome change.
New and continuing members of the State Board of Education meet in the Hodge Education Building at the State Capitol with the shutters open behind photographers and reporters.
Even with additional light, members had difficulty seeing what to do about school districts with one or more accreditation deficiencies over several years. And it is a complicated picture. Once they get into this can of worms at their next regularly scheduled meeting October 23, things may get a little darker or at least more confusing. But this process is not “for our paperwork” as one staffer described it; this is the primary tool the State Board of Education has to hold districts accountable for not correcting financial issues or improving chronically low-performing schools, for example.
Also, Mr. Walters pushed through new state rules for accreditation that included deficiencies for having more than half of students score “below basic” on state tests of English OR mathematics. As best I can tell, this is the first year (2024) for such a determination so I’m not seeing how districts could have gotten this deficiency two consecutive years, which is the main factor for a “Warning.” That is, unless the deficiencies are from 2023 and 2024 data (or 2024 and 2025?).
As usual, MOST schools have no accreditation deficiencies! >>>
Under current state rules, about 13 percent of schools are accredited for this academic year with one or more deficiencies and less than one percent would have received a warning anyway.
If you get a chance, I recommend checking out the state’s “handout” for today’s meeting that is available to download here: https://oklahoma.gov/education/state-board-of-education.html. You may find the OSDE’s September summary of each of the 16 districts on the agenda today interesting - and confusing. But then this fall has been a confusing time. …
Western Heights is a particularly interesting district in southwest Oklahoma City with a troubled history in terms of accountability and low performance. A snip of the Department’s summary is a telling example of the issues that need to be addressed since 86 percent of students did not score "proficient” on the composite of all state tests.
Yes, friends, 91% of Western Heights’ students live in poverty and 32% are English learners, which are huge challenges; but they are NOT among factors the State Board can consider for any of the majority of Oklahoma schools that are in similar straits.
While I know the difference in the two data points noted above, I hope that is explained at the next meeting for the edification of all. And I’m all for celebrating improvement from “probation” to “warning” but does this mean they applied the new rule back to 2023? Are the 2025 scores included? …
Last question to OSDE staff: OKCPS and TPS had fewer than half of their students score “below basic” in 2024? That’s not what I see in the Oklahoma School Report Cards but maybe it has to do with specific verbiage in the new rule about the Academic Achievement Indicator. … IDK. More later!
