Oklahoma Student Assessment Reports Show Mixed Results

Statewide Oklahoma student assessment reports for the 2015-16 school year show moderate gains but also areas of improvement.

Students who score at the “proficient” or “advanced” level on each test have met or exceeded learning standards.

According to a news release from the Oklahoma State Department of Education, reading scores for third- and fifth-grade students show modest improvement. The number of third-grade students scoring at least proficient increased to 72 percent from 69 percent, while fourth-grade proficient reading scores decreased slightly from 70 percent to 68 percent.

The percentage of third-grade students who met the criteria for the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA) has shown an increase from 83 percent in 2014 and 85 percent in 2015 to 88 percent in 2016. The department says those scores are important because they help determine if a third-grader needs intensive reading remediation before advancing to fourth grade

Math scores for grades 3-8 increased or remained steady in all grades except fourth, which decreased from 72 percent in 2015 to 69 percent in 2016, and sixth, which saw a slight drop from 67 percent in 2015 to 66 percent in 2016.

Third grade demonstrated the largest improvement in statewide Math tests, jumping from 62 percent passing in 2015 to 66 percent passing in 2016, according to the news release.

Science scores for grades five and eight continue to improve, with 57 percent of students testing proficient or above from 53 percent in 2015 and 51 percent in 2014. Eighth-grade proficiency scores also rose, with 55 percent of students testing proficient or above in 2016 from 52 percent in 2015 and 50 percent in 2014.

Statewide Social Studies scores in grades five, seven and eight decreased from 2015 to 2016. The Social Studies assessments for grades 5 and 8 are in the final year of a three-year transition to more rigorous academic standards, while grade 7 geography is in the second year of a three-year transition.

The 2016-2017 school year is a transition year for both student assessments and school accountability under the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and House Bill 3218, which eliminated End-of-Instruction exams (EOIs), Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests (OCCTs) as currently given and all non-federally required tests except U.S. History in high school.

The transition-year assessments will test students in English Language Arts and Mathematics each year in grades 3-8 and once in grade 10; Science in grades 5, 8 and 10; and U.S. History once in grades 9-12. A college- and career-ready assessment will also be included. Transition-year and 2017-2018 assessments will align to the new Oklahoma Academic Standards.

OSDE is in the process of vetting new, high-quality assessments in compliance with ESSA and HB 3218 through a large Assessment and Accountability Task Force and a team of technical experts in measurement science. Assessments for 2017-2018 must provide a measure of comparability to other states and produce statistically reliable and accurate information.

See the results here: