PRESS RELEASE - August 15, 2007
Tulsa Students Make Major Strides in State End-of-Instruction (EOI) Testing
Tulsa Public Schools is closer to its number one goal of ensuring every student meets or exceeds state and national standards by 2010, according to recently released Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test (OCCT) results for the district’s middle and high school students. The most impressive gain was in the all-important Algebra I category for both middle and high schools. The district more than doubled the number of students who met or exceeded the state testing standard for Algebra I. Every Tulsa high school saw significant gains in this area, ranging from three to ten times the success rate they saw last year.
Seven out of nine Tulsa high schools helped to bolster the district’s progress by increasing the number of students who met or exceeded state standards for English II. Central High School saw a 60 percent increase in its number of passing students over last year. Webster High School more than doubled its number of students who met or exceeded state standards on U.S. History tests. More than half of the district’s high schools improved their results in U.S. History and Biology.
End of Instruction tests are one valuable tool in assessing student achievement and evaluating a school and/or district’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. Perhaps most importantly, OCCT scores help determine whether schools and districts are meeting the annual requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. As mandated by Oklahoma state law (Title 70 O.S. 1210.508), OCCTs were developed to sample the skills and content specified in the Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS) standards.
