OSDE denied access to data, leading to skewed Oklahoma school rankings

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) is under fire after failing to provide access to schools’ AP testing data to U.S. News and World Report, resulting in a significant drop in rankings for many Oklahoma schools over the past two years.

According to reports, OSDE claims they sent the data but it must have been lost in the mail. This data omission has had a major impact on larger, suburban high schools, causing them to plummet in the rankings while smaller, rural schools have seen an increase in their rankings.

Superintendents from various districts across Oklahoma have expressed concerns about the implications of this skewed data on their communities. Families and businesses often rely on the U.S. News rankings to gauge the quality of schools in a particular district when deciding where to move.

The latest rankings for ‘Best High Schools in Oklahoma’ by U.S. News show a significant shift in the top 20 schools compared to previous years. Schools that were once at the top have seen a drastic decline in their rankings, raising questions about the accuracy of the data used for evaluation.

U.S. News explained that a school’s ‘college readiness’ score, which is a key factor in their rankings, is based on AP and IB testing and enrollment data. Without access to this information, schools in Oklahoma have not been fully credited for their college readiness, impacting their overall rankings.

School leaders are calling for transparency from OSDE and hoping for a resolution to this issue to ensure that schools and students are accurately represented in future rankings. The lack of access to crucial data has not only affected the reputation of schools but could also have implications for students seeking admission to colleges.