Oklahoma criticized in report on education

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A national group that supports school choice is giving Oklahoma low grades in helping minority and low-income students. <br/><br/>The Thomas B- Fordham Foundation's report being

Tuesday, October 24th 2006, 8:56 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A national group that supports school choice is giving Oklahoma low grades in helping minority and low-income students.

The Thomas B- Fordham Foundation's report being released today gives the state a ``D'' in student achievement and a ``D-Plus'' in education reform.

State education officials disagree with the findings and call the organization biased and say its calculations are questionable.

The Fordham Foundation used scores from the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress and says black, low-income and Hispanic students show little to no improvement in school achievement from 1992 to 2005.

State Education Department spokeswoman Shelly Hickman says the National Assessment of Education Progress doesn't accurately portray students. And she says fewer than one percent of Oklahoma students took the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress test.