Concerns grow over proposed Oklahoma school A-F rating changes as public comment deadline approaches

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Oklahomans have until the end of the day Friday to tell the State Department of Education what they think about some controversial proposed changes to how the state assigns letter grades to public schools.

Those grades are often a quick way for families to judge whether a school is the right fit for their children.

Last year, lawmakers voted to remove a factor that could lower a school’s grade if it had too many chronically absent students.

State Sen. Mark Mann, D-Oklahoma City, said schools have no control over that and called it an unfair way to rank them.

“I thought it was a hugely unfair way to rank schools,” Mann said.

Now, he’s concerned the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s (OSDE) proposed replacement criteria are just as unfair.

“I don’t think it’s an accurate indicator of what a school’s doing,” Mann said.

Under the proposal, a school’s grade would be based partly on how many of its teachers are fully certified and how many of its three or more years of teaching experience.

That means if a school with a high grade has a large percentage of uncertified teachers, its grade could drop.

If many of a school’s teachers are in their first or second year, the grade could drop even more.

Mann said those are factors districts can’t control in the current employment environment.

“I can assure you, every district in this state would love to hire certified, highly qualified teachers with three or four years of experience,” Mann said. “It’s just that we have a teacher shortage.”

Mann said the number of emergency certified teachers in Oklahoma schools this year is more than 4,300.

Two decades ago, it was fewer than five.

“Twenty-five years ago, we had certified and experienced teachers who were available to fill these positions,” Mann said.

He says local school districts aren’t the reason experienced, certified teachers don’t want to work in Oklahoma right now.

“I think it’s the state’s fault,” Mann said. “People want to work in a profession that they’re respected. And I think that has eroded, particularly under this superintendent who is willing to attack teachers and schools on any given day, at any given moment, and also pay…. We’re competing against employers in our community that are providing great benefits, more pay.”

Additionally, OSDE is also proposing to factor in how many of a school’s teachers received high marks on performance evaluations into its letter grade criteria.

“You want a good evaluation process because teachers need to get feedback,” Mann said. “You need an evaluation so that you know how they’re performing and they know where they need to improve.”

Under OSDE’s proposed changes, if a principal marks too many teachers as needing improvement in their evaluations, that could also lower the school’s grade.

Mann worries that this could lead some principals to give all of their teachers good evaluations to avoid lowering their grade.

“Is that really the right thing to do for our children?” Mann said. “I think it’s not the right thing to do for the teacher either.”

News 4 reached out to State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ office to ask for his reasoning behind the proposal.

No one responded.

The proposed changes are not yet in effect.

The State Board of Education will have to vote on them.

Public comments can be submitted through a form on OSDE’s website, accessible at this link.

The form closes after Friday, August 8.

Mann hopes enough feedback will convince the agency to make changes before the proposal goes to a vote.

“If we let this go into effect and they drop letter grades, it’s reflective of poor leadership at the state level,” Mann said.