REPORT CARDS

Students are missing a substantial amount of class, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. They recently released School Report Cards for the 2022-23 school year, with many schools across the state, as well as in Lincoln County and Pottawatomie County, receiving low grades in Chronic Absenteeism.

“It’s problematic throughout the whole nation,” said Chandler Superintendent Scott Baade. “I think a lot of it stems from COVID. Kids and parents got so used to staying at home.”

Chandler schools had low grades in Chronic Absenteeism, scoring either F or D, which brought down overall scores to a C for the high school, junior high and Park Road Elementary.

“I think it has an effect on every bit of the report card,” Baade said. “If they’re in school, then that’s going to help test scores. It’s going to help the graduation rate and academic achievement.”

According to the School Report Cards website, a student is considered chronically absent after missing 10 percent or more of instructional time during a school year, or roughly 18 days a year.

This includes excused and unexcused absences, along with suspensions, regardless of schools’ individual absentee policies.

Schools receive points based on the percentage of students not chronically absent. Baade added that low grades in absenteeism brought down scores for a lot of schools in the state, saying they would have gotten Bs instead of Cs. He also doesn’t think that the report cards are an accurate snapshot.

“It does not do schools justice,” he said. Baade said that Chandler has good people, great students and great support from the town, which contributes to their success in areas such as graduation.

Stroud schools were some of the few that received high grades in Chronic Absenteeism, receiving As at the high school, middle school and Parkview Elementary. Superintendent Joe Van Tuyl attributes this to their blended on-site and virtual approach.

“This creates expanded opportunity for classroom instructional access for accounting purposing,” he said. “Overall, our students have always attended school at a high rate of the time.”

The high school also scored high in Postsecondary Opportunity, which measures the percentage of juniors and seniors who complete approved options to prepare for life after high school, according to the website. This includes advanced placement classes, concurrent enrollment in college coursework, certain industry certification programs and work-based internships.

Van Tuyl said Stroud High School has a strong collection of AP courses and encourages concurrent enrollment for their college-bound students. The school recently added Aviation as an option.

“It has long been a goal of Stroud Schools to provide coursework and direction that has a purpose for the future beyond graduation. Our school was providing career planning before it was an emphasis from the state,” he said.

Meeker High School scored high in this area as well, receiving a B. Superintendent Jeff Pruitt said the high school principal and counselor identify students who plan to attend college and ensure they are taking advantage of concurrent enrollment. The school’s goal is “to provide the best college and career readiness academic and extracurricular programs that prepare our students to be successful upon graduating high school,” he said.

Meeker High School scored a C overall, while the middle school received a B and the elementary school received a C.

“Obviously, I would like all of our sites to be a B or higher, but a single summative assessment does not measure the quality of education that our teachers provide our students the entire school year,” Pruitt said.