The Oklahoma State Department of Education notified school districts across the state on Monday evening that the release of brand new school report cards set for this month will be delayed.
Grade cards had been set to be released after the state Board of Education holds its monthly meeting on Dec. 18. Local school district officials had been expecting to receive some preliminary grade information to review a week ago, but it never came. Then just after 5:30 p.m. Monday, they received an email from state education officials indicating that more time is needed.
“Important update on school report card review window,” states the email, which the Tulsa World obtained. “The Oklahoma State Department of Education is committed to ensuring the Oklahoma School Report Cards, mandated by state and federal law, are valid, reliable and meaningful. As such, additional time is required to ensure all aspects of the new, multi-measures model are reviewed, tested and validated. This work is ongoing.
People are also reading…
“With the semester ending and winter break approaching, the district accountability review window will open in late January after the close of the assessment precode window. In addition, our goal is to provide districts an extended period for accountability data review beyond the required 10 days provided in rules. Following the district review window, the Oklahoma School Report Cards will be submitted to the State Board of Education for approval.
“We will continue to provide updates to the timeline as more precise information becomes available. We appreciate your patience and partnership as we implement the new accountability system.”
Oklahoma hasn’t released school report cards since October 2016. That year, and the year before, the grades came with a disclaimer that the system on which they were generated “is inaccurate and in need of overhauling.”
In the interim, state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister’s administration rewrote the A-F grade card system, receiving legislative adoption of the new system and approval of it by the U.S. Department of Education.
Hofmeister has publicly vowed that the new report cards will de-emphasize a single letter grade, instead offering grades for multiple school performance indicators and be paired with a whole “dashboard” of online data about each of the state’s public schools for the public’s use.
