Hearing on proposed school accreditation rules from Ryan Walters draws only one speaker

Only one member of the public spoke on Thursday at an open hearing held by the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

The board was seeking comment on proposed new rules by state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters that would tie school accreditation to the academic performance of students.

The hearing, required by law, was the first of four scheduled in the coming days over various proposals from Walters. Upcoming hearings will concern such issues as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), teacher behavior and a “declaration of foundational values and principles of public education” for the state.

The proposed changes on the agenda for discussion Thursday would add an entire section to the Oklahoma Administrative Code rules that govern the state Education Department.

Under the proposed new rules, starting with data from the current academic year, a school district would receive an academic deficiency if fewer than 50% of its students testing at or above the basic performance level in either English Language Arts or Mathematics. Assessments for third through eighth grades and 11th grade would be combined.

Academic deficiencies negatively affect a school district's accreditation.

Only 10 people — including six Education Department employees and three reporters —were in the room when the hearing started. The single speaker was David Blatt, the director of research and strategic impact for the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. Blatt is a longtime observer of Oklahoma government and is considered to be well-versed in state policy matters.

What did the lone speaker say during the public hearing?

During his presentation, Blatt raised three concerns about the administrative rules proposal:

● That the Oklahoma State Board of Education lacks the rule-making authority to substantively change the accreditation process to be dependent on a district’s student performance data.

● That basing accreditation standards on student assessment data is “myopic, harmful and misguided.”

● And that the proposed rules “offer no pathway forward for struggling schools.”

Blatt said if the board adopts the rules, it “would be acting in the absence of any clear or specific legal authority, saying the state Legislature “at no time has … directed the State Board of Education to develop an accreditation standard that would tie accreditation to district-wide student test results” or laid out metrics to make such an assessment.

The proposed rules, he said, “would veer us back towards the kind of reliance on high-stakes tests that parents and educators have roundly and rightly rejected.”

He said of the 62 school districts that would have received deficiencies had the proposed rules been in place for this academic year, all of them have a majority of students who are economically disadvantaged and 16 of them have 90% of students who come from low-income backgrounds. He said the Legislature’s intent is for the Education Department “to support schools that are struggling, not punish them with threats to their accreditation status.”

Proposed rule likely will be voted upon next month by board

Walters did not attend the hearing. In December, when Walters announced the proposed rules, he rejected those arguments.

“We have tried a system that gave districts a free pass while their students suffered, and the results failed our students and failed their parents,” Walters said then.

"The status quo is unacceptable and puts our state at risk for generations to come. Revamping our accreditation standards is a strong way forward for Oklahoma students. These standards are clear and achievable, and we know that setting high standards will produce the best results. We will not sit back and watch Oklahoma students fall farther behind. Most importantly, setting these standards will ensure every Oklahoma student gets a quality education while providing necessary supports for districts that need more help," Walters said.

The proposed rules likely will be on the agenda for the state Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting next Thursday. If approved by the board, they would have to be reviewed by both the Legislature and the governor before taking effect.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Lone speaker at accreditation hearing criticizes Ryan Walters' plan