Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org/tag/teachers/)
The eye-popping statistic from a recent report made headlines: In Oklahoma, 30,000 teachers have left the profession in the past six years. But there were other interesting trends to unearth in the 124-page report.
A blast email to the state’s teachers praising gubernatorial candidate Kevin Stitt’s education plan has made some of them furious. The sender, who said she was a public school teacher, sent the message to teachers’ work emails, which some of them said was inappropriate.
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?
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.
The state’s largest education association called on teachers Thursday to return to their classrooms after concluding that further attempts to convince lawmakers to find more money for public education would be futile.
A teacher pay raise wasn’t enough to put the brakes on a massive shutdown of schools this week. Teachers say making more money is important, but the issues facing the profession go deeper than what they’re paid.
A fourth of high schools across the state have eliminated world language classes over a decade, erasing the chances for thousands of students to acquire skills that could better prepare them for college and the job market.
New campaign finance reports reveal for the first time the primary funders behind opposition to last year’s state question proposing a 1-cent sales tax for education. The reports also show that backers of the penny tax, which was shot down by voters in November, outspent their opposition more than seven to one.
As the election approaches in Oklahoma, one of the big questions is whether many of the educators running for the Legislature for the first time will win or lose. An Oklahoma Watch radio report spotlights the campaigns of three of these political rookies.
Although low pay remains an issue, a Learning Policy Institute study found that Oklahoma teachers have higher than average levels of job satisfaction in some areas.