Tulsa Public Schools Gives District Update At State Board Of Education Meeting

State superintendent Ryan Walters says he's proud of the work Tulsa Public Schools has been doing to turn things around at the district.

TPS superintendent Ebony Johnson gave her monthly presentation at the state's board meeting.

Walters says Tulsa Public Schools is an incredible example of embracing a challenge.

Johnson says the district is focusing on more intense tutoring, reaching small groups of students to improve their reading scores.

Twenty-eight schools in the district are doing this type of tutoring and working with about 470 fourth and fifth-grade students.

The district has also seen an improvement in the number of kids who are absent on a regular basis.

The district has dropped from 47 percent to 44 percent of students missing 10 percent or more of school.

She says there's no reason to celebrate yet, but she's proud of the lower numbers.

She says this has been not only a district effort but a community-wide one.

"Continuously putting that data in front of our school leaders and putting it on their marquees and making sure families know, when we say 85 percent attendance, that's not enough, we can actually get our students into the 90th percentile," she said.

Johnson says the district wants to finish the school year strong while also planning for the future.

Walters says he's excited what the district h has planned for the summer and the fall.

"I have incredible confidence that we are going to see significant academic improvement this year from Tulsa, because of the hard work of the district, because of the strategic plan from the superintendent," Walters said.