OKLA. CITY —
Last week, two key policies in our 3R Agenda to rethink, restructure and reform Oklahoma’s education system were signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin. In any other year, just one of these reforms would be a significant achievement. To see an entire package of reforms adopted into law in a single year is absolutely historic, and I want to thank the governor, House Speaker Kris Steele, Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman and all reform-minded lawmakers for their leadership.
The first new law, Senate Bill 346 (authored by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City) ends social promotion after the third grade for children who can’t read at proficient levels. By drawing a line in the sand in the third grade, we can help children succeed in their most critical learning years
The second new law, House Bill 1456 (authored by State Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, and Sen. Jolley) is a reform to require an A through F report card for schools. Parents have a right to know how schools are performing without having to wade through obscure numbers, and this reform offers that transparency.
HB 1456 requires an annual report card for schools (with schools getting an A through F grade just like students receive) based on a number of different measurements. Grades assigned to schools will be based on student test scores, student learning gains in reading and mathematics, improvement of students in the lowest quartile of students in a school in reading and math, and whole school improvement.
HB 1456 offers a clear and easy way for parents to quickly determine how schools are performing. It also will offer a strong motivator for community involvement as citizens seek to help schools improve.
SB 346, the reform ending social promotion, focuses on early intervention so that educators can identify problems and adopt individualized learning strategies with children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Children make an important shift in learning after the third grade. If they aren’t prepared they fall significantly behind. We are setting children up for failure if we don’t help them in their early learning years. Instead, we can set them up for success.
I know this from personal experience. When I was in the second grade, I wasn’t reading. My teacher at the time, Jane Foresman, worked with me to develop my reading skills. She took a young person who would have gone down the path of academic frustration and instead taught me not only me how to read, but to love reading.
With the reforms in SB 346 we can make sure that other children are receiving the same type of help.
Now our work turns to the details of implementing these two new laws. Are these new reforms a cure-all? No. But they are two parts of the answer, and we’re on track to transform Oklahoma’s education system for the better.
JANET BARRESI is state superintendent of public instruction.
Opinion
2 bold reforms become law
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