Statewide assessment scores show modest improvements, challenges

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 1, 2015) — Statewide results from Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests (OCCTs) and End of Instruction (EOI) exams during the 2014-2015 school year indicate modest improvement over 2013-14 figures. Passing rates increased or remained flat in 17 of 25 assessments.

Students who score at the “proficient” or “advanced” level on each test are considered passing.

“While these assessments offer only one vantage point to academic progress in Oklahoma classrooms, the scores play an important role highlighting where we are succeeding and where we are facing challenges,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister. 

Reading scores appeared to show positive effects of the Reading Sufficiency Act, or RSA. The number of fourth-grade students scoring at least proficient increased from 65 to 70 percent in the 2014-15 school year. The passing rate for third grade remained unchanged at 69 percent.

For the first time in 2014, third-grade students who did not score at least “limited knowledge” on the state reading test and who did not qualify for an exemption from the RSA’s retention policy were referred to reading teams at their schools. These teams decided whether each individual child should advance to the fourth grade or be retained in third grade for remediation.

“Better performance on the fourth-grade reading test and a steady passing rate in the third grade in the first year of RSA-related retentions suggests that the reading teams are working and we are reaching schoolchildren who need help the most,” said Hofmeister said. “Literacy is essential to success in life and in academics. These results are promising, and we must continue to build on them.”

OCCT math scores increased in every grade level except for eighth grade, where they remained flat, and third grade, where the passing rate dropped from 67 percent in 2014 to 62 percent this year.

For the past two years, Oklahoma no longer double-tests eighth-graders taking advanced math, meaning that some 10,500 of our highest-performing and most advanced students do not take the eighth-grade math OCCT — and therefore are not included in these OCCT results.

Fourth grade demonstrated the largest improvement of statewide math tests, jumping from 65 percent passing in 2014 to 72 percent this year. 

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“While the increased focus on literacy in the lower elementary grades has been heartening, that must also be paired with equally excellent lessons in math. Overall, Oklahoma has made strides in math education, and I know we can continue making progress,” Hofmeister said.

Statewide scores on social studies OCCTs in grades eight and five decreased from 2014 to 2015. These assessments are in the second year of a three-year transition to more rigorous standards.

Except for a 1-point improvement on the Algebra I test and flat scores for English II and English III, scores dropped on every EOI, including Algebra II, Biology, Geometry and U.S. History.

The EOI scores do not tell the entire story, however. This year, many high-performing students were exempt from taking specific EOI exams — such as Algebra II, Geometry and English III — because they have scored in a certain range on an alternate assessment such as the ACT or PSAT.

Scores improved from 2014 for both fifth- and eighth-grade science, although the percentage of students scoring at least proficient remained low at 53 and 52 percent, respectively.

“Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills are increasingly critical in the 21st century economy. We absolutely must make sure all students have access to the resources and great teachers needed for a first-rate STEM education,” Hofmeister said. 

Federal and state laws mandate standardized reading and math assessments in grades 3-8, science tests in grades 5 and 8, and tests for Algebra I, Biology I and English II. State law alone mandates tests for social studies in grades 5 and 8, geography in grade 7, writing in grades 5 and 8, and EOIs for Algebra II, English III, Geometry and U.S. History.

Complete, statewide results for all 2015 OCCTs and EOIs are available here on the OSDE’s website.