Thousands More Students Held Back Than Originally Reported
|
Thousands more Oklahoma students were held back in early grades than what the U.S. Department of Education reported, according to newly released state data.
The Invisibles: Aging Out of Foster Care, Confronting the Unknown
|
Months after his 18th birthday, Joshua Hoaks uses his experience in foster care to face the future. He represents the many young people in Oklahoma whose families tumbled into crisis and lost custody of their children, not to regain them before they reached 18 and aged out of the foster system.
Despite Pitfalls, More Schools Introduce Self-Paced Learning
|
More Oklahoma schools are embracing “personalized learning,” in which students advance individually at their own pace. Once they’ve mastered a concept, they move on independent of their classmates. But the concept has critics and some districts have scaled back their programs. Is self-paced learning the future or a fleeting experiment?
Child Care Becoming Scarcer as Costs, Closures Take Toll
|
Since 2012, the number of child care facilities has dropped by nearly one-quarter, putting parents in a pinch as they try to find places to take their kids. Industry representatives blame excessive regulation and subsidy income limits that exclude many parents who still struggle with the expense.
A Walk Through the Walkout
|
This timeline looks at events leading up to the teacher walkout, the high points of Oklahoma Watch’s coverage and the galvanizing effect the work stoppage had on Oklahoma’s teachers and teachers nationwide.
Video: Human Services Leaders Discuss Foster-Care Issues
|
Top officials from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services talk about challenges and progress in the state’s foster-care and child-welfare programs during an “Oklahoma Watch-Out” public forum.
Don’t Miss Thursday’s Forum: The State of Foster Care
|
Oklahoma Watch will host a public forum Thursday, March 15, in Oklahoma City about the challenges faced by foster children and the state’s efforts to find people willing provide homes for them.
Bills Would Curb Use of Seclusion Rooms in Schools
|
In the wake of an Oklahoma Watch story on seclusion rooms at schools, two state legislators say they will push bills for the 2018 session that would restrict the practice.
Autopsies Reveal a March of Infant Deaths Tied to Unsafe Sleeping
|
Despite more than two decades of national and state safe-sleep campaigns, co-sleeping and other unsafe sleeping practices are playing a significant role in dozens of infant deaths across Oklahoma each year.
Will State’s Makeover of Developmental Disabilities Wait List Be Fair to Families?
|
As the waiting list for individualized services for developmentally disabled Oklahomans grows, the state Department of Human Services is considering changing the first-come, first-served approach to a priority system. It’s unclear how the system would work and whether it would be fair and effective.