Oklahoma Supt. Ryan Walters proposes linking accreditation to student performance

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters formally announced on Monday changes he’s proposing to Oklahoma’s accreditation rules for school districts, modifications he hopes will tie accreditation to the academic performance of students.

Walters said according to Oklahoma law, the state Board of Education must maintain accreditation standards that “equal or exceed nationally recognized accreditation standards to the extent that the standards are consistent with an academic results-oriented approach.”

Oklahoma does currently have such a standard, he said.

The proposed changes would add an entire section to the Oklahoma Administrative Code rules that govern the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Under the proposed new rules, starting with data from the current academic year, it would count as an academic deficiency if a school district has fewer than 50% of all students testing at or above the basic performance level in the state assessments for 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.

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A new level of accreditation, called “accredited with distinction,” would be added for districts that had no deficiencies in the previous academic year and that applied for and received a distinction audit with the highest-level recommendation. The proposed changes also would give a “health and safety deficiency” to any district that maintained the active employment or contract, or renews a contract, of a noncertified employee who is convicted of, or pleads no contest to, a felony.

A spokesman for Walters said the proposed new rules won’t be posted on the state Education Department website until they are ready for public comment, which will be sometime in January. After going through a public-comment period, the rules changes also would have to be approved by the state Board of Education, the Legislature and the governor before they could take effect.

The state Board of Education determines the accreditation status of every Oklahoma school district every year, checking to ensure they meet minimum state standards. As of now, districts can be accredited with no deficiencies, accredited with deficiencies, accredited with warning, accredited with probation or be nonaccredited, which means the district is no longer recognized by the state board.Walters announced the framework of his proposal at a Nov. 30 board meeting. The proposal received pushback from critics who said the new rules would adversely affect urban districts and districts with high numbers of special education students, a criticism immediately rejected by the superintendent. Spokespeople for several school districts, including Oklahoma City, declined to comment at this point on Walters' proposal.

“Superintendent Walters’ plan would take away the power of local parents and their locally elected school boards to chart the course for their own schools,” Protect TPS, a grassroots group of Tulsa parents, said in a statement.

“By drastically rewriting statewide education policy, it would put one man and an unelected state board into the role that rightfully belongs with the Oklahoma Legislature. This unprecedented power grab would mandate drastic changes to our children’s schools based on one high-stakes test, with no consideration of the many challenges school districts face," the group said.

According to recently released Oklahoma School Report Cards, Oklahoma City, Western Heights, Mid-Del, Millwood, Tulsa and Mounds were among the districts that didn’t meet the new standards Walters proposes.In a news release Monday, Walters reiterated his belief in his proposal and cited Oklahoma scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which showed the state ranked below the national average in math and reading for both fourth-graders and eighth-graders.

“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.

He added an international evaluation ranked U.S. students among the lowest ever measured in math.

Closer to home, he said, Oklahoma students had the nation's second-greatest decrease in reading scores and the greatest decrease in math scores in the latest NAEP evaluation.

"The status quo is unacceptable and puts our state at risk for generations to come," Walters said. “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.”Also Monday, the state Department of Education announced proposed changes to the state academic standards for Personal Financial Literacy. The agency will receive feedback on those proposed changes through Jan. 25. The agency also is receiving feedback on proposed changes to the state’s Information Literacy Standards, which were announced last week by Walters.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma schools: Proposal may tie student performance to accreditation