Oklahoma
Oklahoma schools report persistent pandemic-era issues as national data shows lagging achievement • Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — As national data shows the academic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, Oklahoma districts report stubborn challenges that worsened during the global crisis.
Leaders of local districts say students’ poor attendance and behavior have thrown up barriers to reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels of academic achievement.
A national report shows the gap to pre-pandemic results widened during the 2023-24 school year, despite billions in public spending on recovery efforts.
Test scores from 7.7 million U.S. students in grades 3-8 show the average student would need the equivalent of 4.8 extra months of instruction to catch up in reading and 4.4 additional months in math, according to the report from NWEA, a testing company and research center.
NWEA administers standardized assessments called MAP to track students’ academic progress across the country, including in more than 100 Oklahoma school districts.
The fact that federal pandemic aid will soon end only exacerbates concerns, the NWEA report states. Oklahoma schools received more than $2 billion and must spend what’s left of it by Sept. 30.
“Instead of treating COVID recovery interventions as temporary crisis-mitigation tactics, we must make targeted academic supports, such as high-dosage tutoring and summer programming, a permanent part of our new normal,” the report’s authors, Karyn Lewis and Megan Kuhfeld, wrote.
The full results from Oklahoma state tests taken in the spring aren’t yet available. Last year, only 27% of Oklahoma students scored at a proficient level on state tests for reading, math and science.
In Lawton Public Schools, academic results haven’t recovered as quickly as the district wanted, Superintendent Kevin Hime said. The biggest barrier, he said, has been student absenteeism.
“We all know attendance is one of the things that’s lagged since the pandemic,” Hime said. “It’s been harder to get kids to come to school, believe it or not.”
Lawton has been working on “finding those hooks” that attract more students to school.
“Makerspace” days when elementary children get to do hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering and math show strong attendance numbers, he said. Administrators even looked at the correlation between attendance rates and which meals are served in the cafeteria.
The district also saw increased interest in its summer programs this year, Hime said. Instead of calling the program “summer school,” Lawton rebranded it as a “summer camp” and added more enrichment activities.
Hime said he hopes better attendance, more parent engagement and “making sure we put in as many minutes of reading and math as we can” next school year will help close the gap to pre-pandemic achievement.
Bartlesville Public Schools is working to shrink that gap, too, but the district realized it would have to address student behavior issues to do it, Superintendent Chuck McCauley said.
Students are acting less mature than they did before the pandemic, especially among younger grades, he said. That’s why Bartlesville hired three more elementary school counselors — to address behavioral problems and child trauma.
The district plans to keep the extra counselors it hired, even after federal stimulus funds run out. McCauley said a 300-student increase in Bartlesville’s enrollment made it financially viable to retain the additional staff.
In Tulsa Public Schools, district leaders report decreases in student suspensions and improvements in attendance. The district introduced extra tutoring sessions this year and registered 6,500 students for its summer programs as it tries to propel academic performance upward.
Superintendent Ebony Johnson said attendance is a “difficult metric” to improve but a necessary one. About 45% of Tulsa students were chronically absent in 2023-24, meaning those students missed 10% or more of the school year, district leaders said at a June 27 meeting with the Oklahoma State Board of Education.
Johnson said that’s an improvement of 2.6% from the year before.
“We have seen a decrease in chronic absenteeism, but we’re not celebrating yet because that’s way too many students that are missing too much school,” Johnson said during the state board meeting.
The Tulsa district has leaned heavily on MAP tests from NWEA to help track student learning. Tulsa students took MAP assessments three times this school year, along with the spring state tests.
The final spring MAP evaluation showed strong growth in reading among early elementary students, especially third graders, but results were more stagnant in upper elementary and middle school, district leaders have said.
However, students still improved throughout the school year, even if the upward trajectory wasn’t as steep in some grade levels as the district hoped, said Sean Berkstresser, Tulsa’s chief of strategy and innovation, during the state Board of Education meeting last month.
“Our students learned still, and we saw improvements,” Berkstresser said. “So, I want to make sure that’s known. You’ve seen what’s in front of us with a lot of these data points. There’s a lot more to do.”
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Oklahoma
Alabama's upset loss to Oklahoma completes wild day in college football as rankings could look a lot different
Entering Saturday night, all No. 7 Alabama needed was a win against unranked Oklahoma to remain very safe in the College Football Playoff bracket.
Earlier in the day, No. 5 Indiana was blown out, No. 4 Penn State barely squeaked by Minnesota, and No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 14 BYU both lost.
But, the Crimson Tide could not get the job done, as Oklahoma dominated to a 24-3 victory.
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Defensive end R Mason Thomas of the Oklahoma Sooners gets his hands in the face of quarterback Jalen Milroe of the Alabama Crimson Tide at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23, 2024, in Norman, Oklahoma. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who had been one of the nation’s best players, had his worst game of the season. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 164 yards with three interceptions and gained just seven yards on 15 carries for Alabama (8-3, 4-3). The Sooners held Alabama to 234 yards. He went just 2-for-7 for 62 yards before the half.
True freshman Xavier Robinson ran for career highs of 107 yards and two touchdowns as Oklahoma became bowl eligible and took coach Brent Venables off the hot seat.
The Sooners’ victory resulted in yet another edition of fans storming the field too early, but at least this one was practically over anyway, unlike the BYU-Arizona State game.
Oklahoma students and fans rush the field after they efeated Alabama, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Norman. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
APPALACHIAN STATE FANS PELT JAMES MADISON PLAYERS WITH SNOWBALLS BEFORE GAME
Ole Miss and Alabama, both in the bracket prediction last week, now have three losses on the season. This leaves the door wide open for 9-2 teams like Clemson and Iowa State, who had been ranked 17th and 22nd in the nation, respectively.
And now, Indiana’s college football playoff hopes, right after their undefeated season ending, may not look all that over. No. 10 Georgia and No. 11 Tennessee figure to move up a few spots with three teams ahead of them in the rankings all losing.
Although, it’s certainly not out of the question that Alabama could be on the outside looking in.
Oklahoma spirit team member celebrates after a touchdown against Alabama, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Norman. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
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The next rankings will come out on Tuesday, and it should be very exciting to see what the committee has in store.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
No. 7 Alabama football should have defeated unranked Oklahoma. But the Crimson Tide didn’t.
Oklahoma had only won one SEC game all season. It wasn’t even bowl eligible before Saturday.
Then, the Alabama offense failed to score a touchdown and sputtered for much of the night. The Crimson Tide defense couldn’t stop Oklahoma’s rushing attack when the game was still close.
Alabama turned the ball over three times, with three Jalen Milroe interceptions.
As a result, the Crimson Tide fell 24-3 to the Sooners on Saturday at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
“There is no excuse,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “None. Everybody saw it. Whoever was watching the game. We lost, and we’ve got to take it on the chin and keep learning from that.”
Alabama (8-3, 4-3 SEC) gave up 325 yards, with 257 yards, on the ground to Oklahoma and two touchdowns. Oklahoma (6-5, 2-5) had the nation’s 90th ranked scoring offense entering the game.
“Our job was to out-execute those guys, and we fell short tonight,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, the Alabama offense tallied only 234 yards, with 164 through the air and 70 on the ground, to score only a field goal.
Milroe, who gashed LSU on the ground two weeks ago, couldn’t get anything going with his legs with only seven yards on 15 carries.
“They had a great game plan for us,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “We’ve just got to get a hat on a hat. We have to execute better.”
The Alabama players who took part in interviews postgame showed a clear and intentional interest in moving on quickly from the result and performance in Norman.
“So what? Now what?” Booker said. “Can’t do anything about what just happened. What we can do is make sure we prepare our tails off.”
Next up is a matchup with Auburn in the Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium to close out the regular season. Alabama won’t make the SEC Championship Game, but it might not yet be eliminated from the playoff just yet. The Allstate playoff predictor on Saturday night gave the Crimson Tide a 31% chance to still make the postseason.
“Got a big game next week,” Booker said. “Got to put all of our focus and energy there. Can’t do anything about what just happened. We’ve got to put all of our focus and energy into next week.”
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
NORMAN, Okla.–– Alabama has one final road test to pass in the regular season if it wants to compete for an SEC title and make it back to the College Football Playoff.
The No. 7 Crimson Tide plays at Oklahoma on Saturday night in the first matchup as conference foes in the SEC. BamaCentral will have coverage all night from Norman. Follow along for updates.
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(latest updates at the top)
Who: Alabama (8-2, 4-2 SEC) vs. Oklahoma (5-5, 1-4)
When: Saturday, Nov. 23, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium
TV: ABC/ESPN+
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Tyler Watts).
Series: Oklahoma leads 3-2-1
Last meeting: Alabama defeated the Sooners in the Capital One Orange Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff 45-34. Tua Tagovailoa passed for 318 yards and four touchdowns while the Crimson Tide rushed for 200 yards across 42 carries between Josh Jacobs, Damien Harris and Najee Harris.
Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide dominated Mercer 52-7 at home behind three touchdowns from Jalen Milroe and two touchdowns from Ryan Williams. The Alabama defense forced three more turnovers as they’ve now forced 16 in the last five games, making life challenging on opposing offenses.
Last time out, Oklahoma: The Sooners were off this past week, but went to Missouri two weeks ago and lost 30-23 after losing a fumble for a touchdown in the game’s final minutes. Oklahoma’s played five conference games and only won at Auburn this season.
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