School Superintendents Express Concerns Over New Oklahoma School Report Cards

By Emory Bryan, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A group of 34 school superintendents are meeting in Oklahoma City Thursday to criticize the A-F grading system which is due for release Monday.

The new school report cards will simplify dozens of school measurements of quality into a single letter grade for each factor, and a letter grade overall. Each school site, and school district will have a grade, drawn from measures that were already available in a less clearly understood report.

Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard and Oklahoma City Schools Superintendent Karl Springer are among those critical of the new report cards, which they feel will unfairly tarnish the reputation of Oklahoma's schools.

The State Department of Education plans to release the report cards Monday [web site] and has reported that the bulk of schools earned a "B" or "C" and less than 2% earned an "F" grade.