For Immediate Release                                                                         Contact Cordell Jordan

July 17, 2006                                                                                                 405.587.0232

Oklahoma City Student Test Scores Rise For Third Straight Year

OKLAHOMA CITY – Academically, Oklahoma City Public Schools students scored make significant improvements during the 2005-2006 school year.  For the third year in a row, student scores on the State Core Curriculum Tests (known also as the CRT's) increased over prior years. Students in grades 3–8 take the tests each year to determine school achievement and also adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Crediting proven educational processes, as well as parent and community support, all grades improved in the percent of students scoring satisfactory and advanced in reading, and all grades but grade 5 showed major percentage gains in mathematics.

“This is very good news for the school district and the City of Oklahoma City,” says, Cliff Hudson, Chairman of the Board of Education. “Academic success for all students is our highest priority and a key element of  MAPS for Kids. When voters passed the initiative in 2001, they called for changes in the education of our students, not just changes in our school buildings. Continued increases in our test results are a great indication the district is doing just that.”

“Our students and teachers deserve a lot of credit for our focus on education,” said Linda S. Brown, Interim Superintendent of Schools. “OKCPS is setting an example to urban school districts across the nation that our schools can repeatedly achieve and excel.”

The first results to be reported show the District recorded a 3 percent gain in the percentage of elementary students scoring satisfactory or advanced in math, and a 14 percent gain in reading.  Eighth grade students posted a 4 percent gain in math and a 3 percent gain in reading.  Sixth and seventh grade test scores are not yet available, as final calculations are not complete at this time.  Oklahoma measures Academic Performance Index (API) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), using only the subjects of math and reading.

Fifty-eight of the District’s 62 elementary schools and all but two middle schools showed gains in at least one subject area.  Of significance, some of the middle schools that have struggled with state tests in the past produced double-digit gains this year, including Douglass with the greatest increase in mathematics at 25 percent, and Hoover Middle School with the greatest gains in reading at 15 percent. Roosevelt Middle School had the greatest overall gains with an 11 percent gain in math, and a 12 percent gain in reading.  “The District continues to use proven educational processes, such as the division of the District into six feeder patterns, and the utilization of instructional facilitators in some of our lowest performing schools to focus on the individual needs of our students and help them achieve,” added Brown.

The criterion reference test is a state mandated examination which evaluates third, fifth and eighth grade student performance based on what the State Education Department requires them to know. 

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