Two years later, state report card has new look

Official says new system better reflects achievement

Oklahoma's public school report card is set to return this week following a twoyear hiatus, with a new look and added measurements designed to more accurately reflect student achievement and school improvement, the state's top education official said Tuesday.

State Board of Education members on Thursday are expected to certify the grade cards, which were overhauled after critics, which included state schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, said the grades relied too much on standardized tests and distorted reality by not accurately measuring student success.

"That's the old system and that is gone," Hofmeister said at a news conference Tuesday. "It was treated as a scarlet letter, where the focus was on a single indicator. You cannot reduce down the important work of schools to a single indicator.

"We believe that it's very important to tell a more comprehensive story about the work that schools are doing, and be able to tell that in a way that's more meaningful and will give the user the kind of information that is important to them."

Grades are calculated based on several indicators, including academic achievement, student growth, English-language proficiency assessment progress, graduation rate, postsecondary opportunities, and chronic absenteeism.

Each indicator is assigned a number of points and given an individual letter grade. For academic achievement in math and English/language arts, a maximum of 14 points would be awarded to a school based on the percentage of students that reach a state target. Those targets are determined by priority groups that include students with a disabilities, are English learners or qualify for free- or reduced-price lunches.

The report card will appear on an interactive dashboard that will show basic information about schools, including enrollment, principal, district and physical location. Additionally, information about student demographics will be included to give context to schools, Hofmeister said.

Schools will be measured against similar schools, she said.

The state Education Department will publicly release the new accountability system pending state board approval. To access the system go to oklaschools.com.