Oklahoma Education and You

Oklahoma’s politicians and educational leadership have a bad habit of acting tough on accountability—right up until accountability becomes inconvenient. Remember when students had to pass 3 out of 5 high school assessments to get a diploma? When students had to show 8th-grade reading proficiency to obtain a driver’s license? When 3rd-graders had to show reading proficiency to move on to 4th grade? Well, that requirement is returning now.

The rise of virtual charters has presented another accountability problem over the past 11 years. Brick-and-mortar school staff often report that children leave for virtual charters and later return even further behind. Typically, these students left with such poor attendance that they could not earn high school credit, yet they returned in the same year with those same courses credited on their virtual school’s transcript.

Data aligns with teachers’ observations. In 2025, with a state math proficiency rate of 25.2%, virtual charter schools averaged 10.3%. When students transfer back with credits automatically accepted, they often return from environments where only 1 in 10 students meet state math standards.

Charters in general vary in quality; however, virtual charters consistently perform poorly in academics. Some leading brick-and-mortar charters rank in the top 25% statewide, while over 83% of virtual charters fall into the bottom quartile for math proficiency. Credits from these struggling schools are currently required by all districts under state law. Despite the challenges of virtual charters, under Oklahoma law, the traditional public school must honor those credits.

Oklahoma Administrative Code section 210:15-34-5(4), titled “Course codes and course credit transferability,” states:

“For the purpose of data collection, supplemental online courses shall employ the appropriate course codes, names, and numbers as established by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. All public school districts in Oklahoma shall recognize course credit issued for courses authorized through OSOCP.” OSOCP stands for: Oklahoma Supplemental Online Course Program.

Oklahoma statute 70 O.S. § 3-145.3 establishes virtual charters as public schools, so, under the state’s general transfer laws, credits earned at any public school—including a charter school—must generally be accepted by any other public school.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Homeschooled and private school students are treated differently. Students who were previously homeschooled or attended a private school and enroll in a public school in Oklahoma may be required to pass proficiency exams for grade placement and to earn high school credit. If we are going to require 3rd graders to show reading proficiency before moving on to the next grade, surely we can give schools the leeway to not burden on grade level classrooms and high school Math and English courses with students who are not ready for that courses material and often would not be in, say an Algebra II class they are not ready for, if they had remained in their original school the entire year.

There is evidence that Oklahoma education is suffering from a lack of schools that hold students to academic standards. In particular, education analysts often describe the relationship between Oklahoma’s high school graduation rates and academic proficiency (as measured by NAEP and state assessments) as “decoupled” or even negatively correlated. Although graduation rates have generally held steady or slightly increased over the last decade, actual student proficiency has stagnated or declined.
Since 2013, Oklahoma’s graduation rate has fluctuated between 80% and 87%. In the 2024-25 school year, 87% of Oklahoma’s high school seniors graduated on time. During the same period, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—often called “The Nation’s Report Card”—have trended downward. For example, 8th-grade reading proficiency dropped from 30% in 1998 to 20% in 2024. This divergence suggests that a high school diploma in Oklahoma does not currently serve as a reliable proxy for grade-level academic mastery.

Oklahoma’s academic results have also been moving in the wrong direction. On NAEP, Oklahoma’s grade 4 reading score fell from 222 in 2015 to 207 in 2024. Grade 8 reading fell from 263 to 249. Grade 4 math fell from 240 to 233. Grade 8 math fell from 275 to 264. I’m not arguing that virtual charter schools have caused this decline. I am suggesting that perhaps a lowering of standards for grade advancement and credit attainment has contributed, and that the laws around virtual charters, in some ways, exacerbate the problem.

Oklahoma law currently makes it easy for students to move into statewide virtual charters. State accreditation guidance states that a public-school student may transfer to one statewide virtual charter school at any time during the school year; the resident district must send records within 3 school days; and the student has a 15-school-day grace period to withdraw from the virtual charter school without academic penalty. Oklahoma has built a system that facilitates movement. What it has not clearly done is protect the returning district’s authority to decide whether all of that virtual coursework must be accepted on faith.

This approach is counterproductive. Local districts should have the authority to verify transcripts. Providing districts with the same flexibility afforded when students return from homeschooling would be beneficial. Safeguards should remain for those facing illness, disability, foster placement, homelessness, family crisis, or safety concerns. However, local judgment, not automatic acceptance, should be the standard.
If Oklahoma intends to strengthen accountability, it needs to nip loopholes around student accountability in the bud.