Algebra scores released by the state education department

Discouraging news from the Oklahoma Department of Education. Nearly 80% of Oklahoma students failed to score satisfactory or above in Algebra One. <br><br>These are results from tests given to 8th through

Thursday, December 18th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Discouraging news from the Oklahoma Department of Education. Nearly 80% of Oklahoma students failed to score satisfactory or above in Algebra One.

These are results from tests given to 8th through 12th graders back in the spring. State Education officials said this is the first time the test was administered and itâ€™s extremely complex.

State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said the algebra challenged students to solve real life problems, involving a lot of critical thinking, not simply asking them to solve for x and y. â€œIâ€™m not certain if all the teachers are teaching to our algebra one standards yet. Now, these are new standards and obviously they have a textbook. And in standards based reform, you're supposed to teach to the standards have a textbook that reflects the standards. And that's really a new practice for our state and our country.â€

The state didn't release individual district results. It wants to allow those districts time to analyze the data and then challenge it f there is a discrepancy. That information should be released in two weeks.