Number Of Oklahoma Schools On Federal 'Needs Improvement' List Doubles

NewsOn6.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Fifty-six Oklahoma school districts are on the federal needs improvement list, six times as many as last year.  

The number of individual schools has jumped from 90 to 227.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi released the names of schools and school districts on the list on Thursday.

"We know that schools are working very hard to constantly improve, and we're looking forward to helping all of our schools continue to find innovative ways to gain ground," Janet Barresi said. "We will be looking at ways to help every school in every district on this list determine effective strategies for improvement. There is not a blanket solution. The strategy will vary in each school. The failure of even one child in Oklahoma to reach his or her potential is something we should all be concerned about."

Barresi said the number of districts and schools on the Needs Improvement list rose from 2010 in large part because of changes made in 2009 to threshold benchmarks that mark the difference between a passing or failing grade.

What may be surprising to some parents is that several Tulsa area school districts have missed the mark.

The Tulsa Union's 6th and 7th Grade Center is on the list, as well as Jenks East and East Intermediate Elementary Schools.

Broken Arrow has three schools on the list, Centennial, Haskell and Oliver Middle Schools.

Garfield Elementary in Sand Springs and Sapulpa's High School and Middle School are on the list as well.

School districts that fail for two consecutive years to meet benchmarks mandated by the "No Child Left Behind" federal program are added to this list.

List of school districts on the Needs Improvement list.

List of schools on the Needs Improvement list.