Lawmakers, superintendents upset with lack of communication from OSDE on changes to state test scores

OKLAHOMA CITY ( KFOR ) — School district superintendents across Oklahoma say the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) never communicated that there would be a change in how state tests were scored this year, resulting in the number of students deemed academically “proficient” appearing to skyrocket from past years.

Despite lawmakers and school leaders telling News 4 OSDE never informed them the state had lowered its “cut score” for standardized tests this year, State Superintendent Ryan Walters claimed on Thursday he had been communicating with them about the change.

News 4 obtained data OSDE sent districts last week, indicating, on average, the share of students in Oklahoma who scored “proficient” on state tests increased nearly 30 percent in 2024 from 2023.

Below is a breakdown of the state testing score data that officials with an Oklahoma school district told News 4 OSDE provided them within the past week:

The data indicates, in 2023, 27 percent of Oklahoma students, on average, attained a high enough score on each test to be deemed “proficient.”

In 2024, the data indicates 38 percent of Oklahoma students, on average, attained a high enough score on each test to be deemed proficient.

That’s a nearly 30 percent rise in the state’s proficiency rate from 2023 to 2024.

“I’ve never seen these kinds of increases in a single year,” said Marianne Perie, a technical advisor on school assessment and accountability, who consults with numerous state education departments across the nation on standardized testing.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s just not realistic that someone’s going to jump that far,” said State Rep. Danny Sterling (R-Tecumseh) who previously worked a 40 year career as a school teacher and principal before becoming a lawmaker.  “Two, three, four percent? Yes, that’s normal. But that does not add up when you’re talking about that big of a jump.”

What this all really comes down to is what’s known as the state’s “cut score.”

“A cut score is the score used to decide what level a student is proficient, advanced proficient, below proficient, etc,” Sterling said.

If a student scores above the cut score, they’re deemed proficient. If they score below it, they’re considered below proficient.

The state updates the cut score every six years to coincide with updated academic standards.

Lawmakers tell News 4 the Oklahoma Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (OEQA) lowered the cut score this year, lowering the minimum score that students would need to be deemed “proficient.”

“I think it sounds like we can’t compare them to last year’s scores,” Perie said.

Perie served on the advisory committee which, in part, came up with recommendations for Oklahoma’s cut scores from 2013 until 2022.

She remembers when Oklahoma increased its cut scores in 2017—raising the bar for a student to get a proficient score.

“I was the external evaluator for the standard setting that was done back then. And it was very public,” Perie said. “People knew that cut scores were being reset at the time.”

Then-State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister held a press conference in 2017 to let the public know, with the higher cut score, proficiency rates would be expected to drop that year.

“Superintendent Hofmeister wanted to ensure that these cut scores were very rigorous,” Perie said. “I worked with the department to make sure that it was clear that these were different, and we were very transparent in how we did the process.”

State Rep. Mark McBride (R-Moore) said he spoke to officials with OEQA on Thursday, who told him they let Walters and other OSDE officials know around a year ago that cut scores would be lower in 2024.

Despite that, several superintendents News 4 has heard from in districts across the state say OSDE never told them cut scores were being lowered in 2024.

“I’m not seeing the level of transparency this year that I saw in 2017,” Perie said.

After Thursday’s state school board meeting, Walters told reporters OSDE has not released the testing data to the public yet—only with school districts.

He said OSDE is still working through how to interpret and share it with the public.

“We have not rolled out the test scores yet,” Walters said. “So to be attacked on how we rolled out test scores before we roll out test scores, I found really fascinating bit of fan fiction out there, but website. Yeah, but we have not discussed them with the public to break down what has changed.”

He also insisted OSDE had communicated with districts about the change to the cut score before OSDE sent them their scores.

“We are actively working districts through that process now to say, here’s how these decisions were made,” Walters said. “You guys haven’t seen us walk through it yet because again, what we’re trying to do is make sure the districts understand how do you use these with your teachers and training for next year.”

That is something Rep. Sterling, and the numerous superintendents News 4 has heard from, say just isn’t true.

“There was nothing conveyed or communicated to the school districts that there will be changes and cut scores,” Sterling said. “I think transparency is the main thing. If they will address their concerns instead of pointing fingers back at those people that are asking those questions, I think that would help a lot.”

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