Tulsa School Credits Parents, Hard Work For Above Average Test Scores

The schools in Tulsa are also working on sending out letters this week to third grade parents. Every parent gets one, and some schools will have better news than others.

The third grade students a Hoover Elementary did better than the state and district averages, 76 students passed and ten failed. The teachers credit plain old hard work in the classroom, and support from parents, as the reason they did that well.

Rebecca King's 3rd grade class finished up the last state test of the year. The teacher and the students have been counting, and this one was the 43rd test they've taken.

"None of these tests count towards their report card. It's just checking their progress in reading and math," King said.

The children in the school made significant progress in reading during the year. It put Hoover near the top performers of TPS schools on the 3rd grade reading test.

The results were good, but some students said they didn't like the test and that it was too long.

Third graders Bayleigh and Brooklyn are confident they did well and credit their family with a good start at home.

"My mom, dad, big sister, and my papa," the girls said. "They would point out the letters and we would sound them out."

King gives a lot of credit to the parents too, and the other teachers on the reading team at Hoover. They emphasized reading with more resources than ever before.

They all worked together to build portfolios on every student to document how they're doing. It's what they would need to qualify for any possible exemption to the test.

The next step though is a stack of letters that will let parents know either way if their student passed or failed.

"And then we will send the letters home with those students in the next day or two so they can relax a bit and know how to move forward themselves," said King.

The year is almost over, so there's not much time to work more with the students who didn't pass, but King said they'll keep going and focus on reading because that's what got them this far.

Of the children who didn't pass at Hoover, the common denominator is that they're in special education classes. The teacher said they likely won't be able to get an exemption with the portfolio, so for now they'll be heading to summer school.