A Rural Charter School Splits an Oklahoma Town
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A businessman outmaneuvers community opponents to bring a charter school to the struggling community of Seminole. Now, he wants to establish more charters in other rural towns.
Oklahoma Nearly Tops Nation in Holding Back Early-Grade Students
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Oklahoma schools are holding back thousands of students a year in K-2 grades, partly because of the law requiring retention of third graders who aren’t reading-proficient, an analysis by Oklahoma Watch found. According to data, the state’s retention rate in those early grades is second highest in the nation. Retention can have long-term negative effects, researchers say.
Student Retention: About the Data
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Here’s a look at how we analyzed retention data from the U.S. Department of Education.
Virtual Charter School’s Founders Ramp Up Political Contributions
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The founders of Epic Virtual Charter School donated at least $145,000 total to dozens of candidates in this year’s elections. The donations outpaced those from the Oklahoma Education Association PAC and have come amid continuing dramatic growth in enrollment at the online school.
Revamped School Report Cards Have New Look, Different Focus
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School letter-grade report cards are coming back after a two-year hiatus, but with a different focus and some changes in how metrics are calculated. One pending change is a downplaying of the overall letter grade on the report cards to be displayed on the state’s website.
Disappointment Largely Prevails for Teacher Caucus
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For politically active teachers and parents, the defeat of gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson was the night’s biggest disappointment. But while the teacher caucus wasn’t as successful as supporters had hoped, there were bright spots.
In One Minute: SQ 801, on Property Taxes for School Operations
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In this 60-second video, learn the basics about what’s at stake in the Nov. 6 vote on State Question 801, which would allow local school districts to spent local “building fund” property taxes on operations.
New Data Show Some Colleges Are Definitely Unaffordable for Many
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The huge increase in college costs has priced some families out of higher education altogether. Even fallback schools often cost a low-income family more than they earn in a year, putting them entirely out of reach regardless of financial aid, scholarships and other assistance.
Video: ‘Watch-Out’ Forum on SQ 801 – Your Schools, Your Taxes
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Undecided on State Question 801? Watch our “Oklahoma Watch-Out” forum on the proposal, which would allow school districts to spend a portion of their property tax revenue on operations.
The Latest ACT Scores for Public and Private High Schools
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Find out your public or private high school’s average score on the 2017 ACT college-readiness exam. Order the table by scores and correlate with poverty rates.