Education report mixed on Oklahoma's progress

A study released Tuesday indicated that Oklahoma is making progress in reading and math achievement in grade schools but needs to increase its number of college graduates.
The report by the Florida-based Southern Regional Education Board is a compilation of previously reported education statistics about Oklahoma, state Education Department spokeswoman Shelly Hickman said. The board has 16 member states, including Oklahoma.
The report examined state progress on goals including student performance and college readiness. A commission of regional education leaders set the goals in 2002.
“Oklahoma is making solid progress in education, but just as in every state, much work remains to be done,” SREB President Dave Spence said.
Citing U.S. Department of Education stats, the report noted that Oklahoma’s six-year graduation rate for first-time freshmen who entered a public four-year school in the fall of 2000 was 48 percent, compared to the national average of 55 percent.
Houston Davis, the associate vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, said more recent numbers show an improvement in the number of college graduates in the state. Davis said that in 2004-05, the six-year graduation rate was 62.8 percent at the state’s research universities, 40.1 percent at its regional universities and 32 percent at its community colleges.
“We have the goal that we want to get to that national average, and once we get to the national average, we want to surpass it,” Davis said. “But you can’t get there overnight. ... All three are making the type of progress we want to see and that is progress in a positive direction.”
The report noted that Oklahoma’s college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates did show improvement, from 50 percent in 1994 to 52 percent in 2004. Nationally, the rate dropped from 63 percent to 56 percent.
It also said that in 2007, the percentage of Oklahoma high school seniors taking the ACT and its recommended college prep courses was 49 percent, 2 percent below national average. The average composite ACT score in Oklahoma for graduating seniors who completed the ACT-recommended courses was 21.7, compared to 19.2 percent for students who did not.
Davis said that “the great majority” of Oklahoma high school graduates are ready for college, but that “we know there is a segment that do come in with some academic preparation issues. The single biggest determinant of success in college is academic preparation.”
The second, he said, are fiscal indicators, “especially when you are talking about students from low socio-economic backgrounds.” According to the SREB report, 55 percent of Oklahoma children live in low-income households, defined as an annual income of $37,000 or under for household of four in 2006. That number is up from 37 percent in 1990.
The report did offer some positive signs for Oklahoma. Citing the National Assessment of Education Progress — often referred to as “The Nation’s Report Card — the report noted that while Oklahoma fourth-graders trail the U.S. average in reading and math achievement, the state has made gains since 2003.
Most notably, 56 percent of fourth-graders from Oklahoma families scored at least at the “basic” level of reading on the NAEP exam, higher than the national average.
“These results are remarkable,” Spence said.
State Superintendent Sandy Garrett also noted that Oklahoma was one of only 14 states to make gains in math achievement in all grades on the most recent NAEP exams.
“Oklahoma looks for further progress as we implement high school reform and high-stakes testing as part of the Achieving Classroom Excellence Act of 2005,” Garrett said.