Small: Mississippi is beating Oklahoma (again)

Mississippi is beating Oklahoma (again)

By Jonathan Small

I recently noted that Mississippi students are dramatically outperforming their Oklahoma peers when it comes to reading.

Now Mississippi officials are seeking to dramatically outpace Oklahoma in the race for jobs by eliminating its tax on work and investment – the state income tax.

Mississippi currently has an income-tax rate of 4.7 percent, which is already lower than Oklahoma’s top rate of 4.75 percent, and the rate in Mississippi was also scheduled to fall to 4 percent in 2026.

But now, with passage of Mississippi’s House Bill 1, that state’s income tax is on the path to full repeal.

Small: Seven ways to boost reading outcomes

Seven ways to boost reading outcomes

By Jonathan Small

I’ve written about Oklahoma’s appalling reading outcomes, which have fallen dramatically and are now among the worst in the nation.

Fortunately, lawmakers have banned the use of “three cuing” instruction that mostly involves teaching a child to guess rather than sound out words.

But more can be done. Here are seven policy steps to improve reading proficiency in Oklahoma.

Small: Reading failures must be addressed

Reading failures must be addressed

By Jonathan Small

It’s said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results.” This describes the failures in reading proficiency by Oklahoma students, despite billions of dollars of increased spending on public education in Oklahoma.

Edunomics Lab revealed that from 2013 to 2024 Oklahoma’s per-pupil spending increased 47 percent during that decade, but National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores in both reading and math are far lower today than in 2013. One cannot ignore that reality. Oklahoma’s spending increase far outpaced inflation during that time. Regarding Oklahoma, Edunomics noted, “Reading 4th-grade scores fell through the decade and continue to decline even as spending increased.”

NAEP scores show that only 23 percent of Oklahoma fourth grade students scored at or above proficient in reading, compared to 33 percent in 2015.

Governor Stitt shakes up Oklahoma State Board of Education, draws Walters' ire

There's trouble in paradise, as they say. Gov. Stitt's latest education move has, to put it mildly, upset longtime ally State Superintendent Ryan Walters. Walters' typical, hyperbolic reaction is included underneath.

Governor Stitt Shakes Up Oklahoma State Board of Education

OKLAHOMA CITY (February 11, 2025) - Today, Governor Kevin Stitt named three new members to the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE). The move comes after ongoing controversy at the Oklahoma State Department of Education and disappointing scores on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Small: A renewed focus on reading instruction is good news

A renewed focus on reading instruction

By Jonathan Small

Reading instruction is receiving lawmakers’ attention this year. That’s good news because Oklahoma has much ground to make up.

In 2011, lawmakers strengthened the state’s reading law, requiring students to retake the third grade if they were reading far below grade level, and providing remediation to struggling students.

That program drew wails from many public-school officials—but it worked. Reading performance improved dramatically from 2011 to 2015 on National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests.

By 2015, Oklahoma recorded the third-largest gain in the country on fourth-grade reading scores on NAEP and the state score was above the national average. 

But then lawmakers watered down the state’s third-grade reading law and made social promotion easier.

Small: Literacy report not a shocker

Literacy report not a shocker

By Jonathan Small

According to data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, a national survey, around 500,000 Oklahoma adults could be either functionally illiterate or would struggle to understand written information.

That won’t shock many employers at companies that offer entry-level positions. Talk to an employer, and you will hear tales of applicants who cannot perform simple tasks because of poor literacy skills.

Small on Oklahoma's plunging reading, math scores: "Back to the '70s"

Back to the ‘70s

By Jonathan Small

The surge of inflation under President Joe Biden has given many people flashbacks to the 1970s. Sadly, the latest data released by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) evokes a similar sense of déjà vu.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) administered the NAEP long-term trend reading and mathematics assessments to 13-year-old students from October to December of the 2022–23 school year.

The results provide much reason for alarm.

OCPA column: Budget theatre insults voters

Budget theatre insults voters

By Jonathan Small

When State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters recently unveiled his proposed education budget, critics immediately claimed he was seeking to cut school funding and teacher pay.

Those complaints are a product of political performance and have no basis in reality.

OCPA column: Focus on reading & graduation standards needed

Focus on reading & graduation standards needed

By Jonathan Small

In August, Allison D. Garrett, chancellor for the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, warned lawmakers that Oklahoma high-school graduates are largely unprepared for college in English, math, reading, and science.

Small: Reading instruction crucial for Oklahoma children

Reading instruction crucial for Oklahoma children

by Jonathan Small

As the old expression goes, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again while hoping for a different outcome. Unfortunately, many of our public schools have taken that approach to reading instruction by clinging to a scientifically discredited method of instruction known as “whole language.”

It’s time policymakers address this longstanding problem. Nationwide learning loss occurred during COVID, and Oklahoma ranked among the worst-performing states according to the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

OCPA column: Sound the alarm on Oklahoma’s academic results

Sound the alarm on Oklahoma’s academic results

By Jonathan Small

Oklahoma’s 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test results show Oklahoma’s academic outcomes have plummeted, have fallen far faster than most states, and are at levels below nearly all states.

Oklahoma’s NAEP score for fourth-grade reading was on a strong upswing and was actually above the national average in 2015, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister’s first year in office. It’s been downhill ever since. Today, only three states do worse.

1889 Institute: Why can't Oklahoma's kids read any better?

Why Can’t Oklahoma’s Kids Read Any Better?

By Byron Schlomach

As has been true every year since 2002 (save for one anomaly in 2015), Oklahoma’s National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) most recent reading scores for 4th and 8th graders came in under the national average. The 8th grade scores have been significantly higher in the past.

Why this poor showing? Why does it persist? Why has it gotten worse? No doubt, some will respond with the usual refrain about the need for more money. But, Oklahoma is one of only a handful of states that offers pre-kindergarten for all comers and funds it in its formulas. It’s better-funded than high school. And besides, did teachers have a better excuse for not teaching reading before they got a $5,000 raise?

The reason Oklahoma has poor readers might be because a whole-word “reading instruction” method, often characterized as the “three-cueing system,” is still used all over the state, according to an Oklahoma Watch article from last September. This method of supposedly teaching reading has children attempt to memorize the look of entire words, or guess a word from context, without learning the individual sounds letters represent. This basic method has gone by other names such as “Look-Say,” “See-Say,” “Sight,” “Psycholinguistic,” “Word,” “Whole-Word,” and “Whole Language” over the years. They are all discredited.

There is only one scientifically-verified reading instruction methodology – phonics. It requires instructing children in the constituent sounds we use to form words, and the letters and letter combinations that represent them. You’d think that educators would trip over each other to get their hands on a teaching methodology verified by science, one even confirmed with brain imaging, but that’s apparently wrong.

Maybe teachers persist in using wrong teaching methods in reading because of what they were erroneously taught in our universities’ schools of education, and they just don’t know better. If so, making them aware of their error should result in swift change.

Unfortunately, our Superintendent of Public Education, Joy Hofmeister, and the department she leads seem more concerned with subjecting our teachers to hours of meetings about “trauma-informed” instruction. Best I can tell, that means being nice to kids from dysfunctional families and neighborhoods. That’s laudable, but the vast majority of teachers are already compassionate. It would seem far more important and beneficial for these same children to learn to read than to have their teachers repeatedly told they need to be compassionate, which is not exactly news.

Maybe it’s time to mandate that the state universities’ colleges of education teach scientifically-verified reading instruction methods, that they re-teach current teachers at the universities’ expense, and that public schools use those methods. After all, Oklahoma students’ poor reading skills can ultimately be traced to our universities’ colleges of education.

Byron Schlomach is the 1889 Institute Director and can be contacted at bschlomach@1889institute.org.

Small: Funding doesn’t explain OK education performance

Funding doesn’t explain OK education performance

By Jonathan Small

In recent years, status-quo forces have described Oklahoma’s 2009 per-pupil funding level as a goal for state spending, and argued that the slight reduction in per-pupil appropriations experienced following 2009 is to blame for the state’s education problems.

Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa, is the latest example of this pattern. Provenzano told The Oklahoman she opposes making the state superintendent a gubernatorial appointee, and implied the focus should be simply on spending increases.

“The state of education in Oklahoma, and the work that we’re going to have to do to even get it back to where it once was, is a direct result of severe underfunding by the state Legislature for well over a decade,” Provenzano said.

If spending equals better results, then 2009 should be a high-water mark for educational outcomes in the state. It’s not.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the “nation’s report card,” shows fourth grade reading and math scores in 2009 were basically the same as in 2019.

In reading, NAEP found just 28 percent of Oklahoma fourth graders read at grade level or better in 2009. In 2019, the test found 29 percent read at grade level.

Put simply, 2009 levels of spending generated the same basic results as 2019 spending. That doesn’t fit the narrative of those who want no changes in Oklahoma schools’ oversight or expectations.

Neither does the fact that the 20-percent increase in Oklahoma school appropriations over the last two years has had no notable impact on outcomes. Instead, academic results declined in 2019 on NAEP, state academic tests, and the ACT college-entrance exam.

Also contrary to the “only spending matters” crowd, the biggest improvement in outcomes occurred even as education appropriations declined slightly. In 2015, NAEP found 33 percent of fourth graders read at grade level or better.

One reason that reading outcomes improved in 2015 even as per-pupil spending was at a standstill or declining slightly is that lawmakers raised expectations.  A law in force at that time ended social promotion and required students to repeat the third grade if they read at a first-grade level or lower. (That law has since been watered down and outcomes have fallen as a result.)

Money matters, but government structure, accountability, and academic expectations matter too. Under Oklahoma’s current system, gubernatorial candidates from both parties campaign on education issues, but their ability to implement their vision is hampered by their lack of authority over the Department of Education.

Giving the governor authority to appoint a state superintendent will guarantee direct accountability. If things go wrong in Oklahoma schools, the governor will be on the hot seat. Under our current system, no one is really in charge.

Ask yourself: Which system do you think is most likely to generate better academic outcomes? The answer is obvious.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

Small: how long are Oklahomans to wait for promised improvements in academic results?

The waiting game

By Jonathan Small

As I’ve noted in recent weeks, Oklahoma school appropriations have surged by 20 percent over the last two legislative sessions, but outcomes continue to decline, as has become apparent with the release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the ACT exam and state testing results. When I point this out, I’m often told to “give it time,” that one cannot expect school performance to change in just one or two years.

Fair enough. But the problem is this pattern extends for decades. Oklahomans have steadily increased school funding through the years, but the outcomes produced by the school system are often unchanged from prior decades—or even worse.

In 1990, a host of tax increases were passed for education as part of House Bill 1017. Since then, Oklahoma has legalized the lottery and casinos, and increased taxes again, all to boost school funding. And, contrary to the political spin from some activists, the amount spent on education in Oklahoma has increased significantly over that time.

In 1990, Oklahoma’s per-pupil expenditure was $7,934. By the 2018 state budget year that figure reached $9,094, an increase of nearly 15 percent. (Both figures are adjusted for inflation.)

The problem is that we’re often getting the same or worse results, just at a higher cost.

Oklahoma’s NAEP score on fourth grade reading in 1992 was 220 (prior-year outcomes were not immediately available on the NAEP site). In 2019, the score was 216.

Oklahoma’s average composite ACT score in 1989, before HB 1017’s tax increases passed, was 19.9. In 2019, Oklahoma’s average composite ACT score was 18.9.

Just how long are Oklahomans supposed to “wait” for those promised improvements in academic results? Surely a quarter-century is long enough to conclude that spending increases alone are not getting the job done.

But what is the alternative to waiting and hoping as yet another generation of Oklahoma children gets left behind? One proven solution is to increase school choice.

Low-income urban students often enter charter schools two grades behind, but finish performing at grade level or better and go on to obtain college degrees. The parents of children with special needs who now attend private schools thanks to state-funded scholarships will tell you of lives changes, dramatically, for the better.

To increase spending on a government system does not change outcomes. But harness spending increases to parental choice, and then you have a formula for improvement and upward mobility. No government system is going to care for a child more than that child’s family or guardian, and simply spending more money to get the same (or worse) results is not progress.

It’s time for this decades-long waiting game to end. State lawmakers should put Oklahoma on a path to true academic improvement by not only boosting education funding, but also giving parents the ability to choose their child’s school.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

OCPA column: Academic results show why families voting with their feet

Academic results show why families voting with their feet

By Jonathan Small

Government officials often refer to government spending as an “investment” to suggest a business approach is being applied to public policy. But if spending equals investment, then Oklahomans must ask, “What are the results?”

When it comes to our school system, results are now worse than they were before the “investment” of the past two years.

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the nation’s report card, Oklahoma student scores declined in fourth and eighth grade reading, were stagnant in fourth grade math, and improved slightly in eight grade math (by a margin considered statistically insignificant). Oklahoma students remain below the national average in all NAEP subjects.

On the ACT exam, Oklahoma students’ scores declined in every subject this year. In fact, 46 percent of students failed to meet ACT college-readiness benchmarks in any of the subjects tested.

When Oklahoma state test results were released months ago, they showed academic achievement was lower in 2019 than in 2017. In every subject and grade tested, a majority performed below grade level.

Those declining results have occurred even though lawmakers increased K-12 school appropriations by 20 percent over the last two sessions.

Some will object it’s unrealistic to expect a dramatic turnaround in just over a year. I don’t disagree. But is it unrealistic to think academic results should at least stop declining after such huge spending increases?

If “investment” alone is failing to stem the bleeding, let alone generate improvement, then more is needed. Policy changes must also be adopted. And parents in one of the state’s worst school systems have highlighted one solution.

Tulsa Public Schools faces a $20 million shortfall. The district’s leadership blames its financial problems on state funding cuts. But, as noted, the state has not been tightfisted over the last two years. Instead, Tulsa’s true problem is that students are leaving the district in droves and state funding is following them out the exits.

Where are those students going? According to the Tulsa World, 3,700 students left TPS for Epic Charter Schools, an online provider, from summer 2013 to June 2019, while another 3,300 students left for brick-and-mortar charter schools.

Parents are taking stock of the results of state “investment” in districts like Tulsa, and are responding by voting with their feet and moving children to schools that produce better outcomes. The greatest challenge for those families is not a lack of state “investment” in schools; it’s a limited array of school choices when their geographically assigned school fails to deliver results.

Combining school choice with greater education funding is policymakers’ best path to improving Oklahoma’s education system and student outcomes. Otherwise, next year may end the same as this year—with policymakers baffled that schools not only failed to improve after tax-and-spending increases, but actually got worse.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

Schlomach: Oklahoma’s Pre-K - Spending a Lot for Less

Oklahoma’s Pre-K: Spending a Lot for Less

by Byron Schlomach

In 2015, 75 percent of Oklahoma’s 4 year olds were enrolled in public school prekindergarten. Only two states, Vermont and Florida, enrolled a higher percentage. Meanwhile, 26 states enrolled fewer than 20 percent of their 4 year olds. Another 14 states enrolled fewer than 40 percent. You would think that if large prekindergarten programs led to success, Oklahoma would provide the evidence. Unfortunately, Oklahoma’s outsized public prekindergarten program likely accomplishes little more than enlarging the state’s school bureaucracy and providing free childcare.

Oklahoma’s prekindergarten program has been around long enough that if it really makes a difference, Oklahoma should have seen some gains relative to the rest of the country. In fact, Oklahoma’s 4th graders consistently score below the national average on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), despite a much celebrated blip in 2015 that was completely erased by 2017. It’s not as if the country-wide results are rocketing skyward and we are just lagging a little. NAEP results nationwide are flat.

Despite the less-than-stellar results, Oklahoma formula-funds prekindergarten at an extraordinary level, and has for more than 20 years. A prekindergarten student’s formula-funding is 30 percent higher than a 4th grader’s, and over 8 percent higher than a middle or high school child’s. Private school pricing in Oklahoma, not determined by politics, charges a slight premium for pre-school ages compared to other low grades, but nothing like the funding premium in public school formulas.

It makes sense to charge more for schooling 4 year olds than for 4th graders. Fourth graders respond more predictably to rules and discipline, are far less likely to have restroom issues, and they can sit still longer. But private school pricing suggests only a 5 percent bump in prekindergarten funding over 4th grade.

Why is public school funding for prekindergarten so high? One reason might be that there is a college-educated individual who qualifies for the minimum teacher salary schedule (at lowest, $37k this year) in every classroom. Prekindergarten classes are held to 20 or fewer students, and more than 10 students require a teaching assistant, according to a law that has been relaxed but is still largely adhered to. Though subject to regulation, private schools still find it less necessary to have college graduates work with 4 year olds and have greater flexibility with what they pay.

The political pressure for universal prekindergarten programs has been bolstered by research on early-age brain development and its seeming implications for life-time intelligence, indicating urgency for getting children into learning environments. Recently, an ongoing study of Tulsa’s prekindergarten results indicated tangible benefits for prekindergarten participants, that they are more ready for kindergarten.

For those of us who didn’t attend kindergarten, much less prekindergarten, but still managed a PhD in economics or, in the case of my brother, helped to engineer the Joint Strike Fighter, prekindergarten’s benefits seem mighty sparse. The fact is, prekindergarten’s positive effects on standardized test scores have long proven temporary. But recently, the Arnold Foundation’s Straight Talk on Evidence website reviewed results of a large randomized trial from Tennessee that shows prekindergarten has mostly negative long-term effects kicking in by third grade.

Because of our large prekindergarten program, our education funding is spread more thinly over more students, as compared to most states. Scaling back Oklahoma’s prekindergarten system to half its current size would save $140 million and the program would still be larger than those of most states. It might be time to rethink and limit our state’s prekindergarten to the truly disadvantaged, hopefully without hurting their future academic success.

Byron Schlomach is Director of the 1889 Institute, a think tank based in Oklahoma City.