(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Oklahoma schools rank 50th in the nation in latest education quality study [1]
['Josh Kelly']
Date: 2025-07-24
Oklahoma schools rank 50th in the nation in latest education quality study
Show Caption Hide Caption Ryan Walters weighs in on Oklahoma religious charter school decision The state superintendent claimed the ruling was "antithetical" with the rights of parents in Oklahoma to direct their children's education.
A new survey ranks Oklahoma as the 50th worst state for its school systems. Why? For many reasons that Oklahomans are already aware of.
According to WalletHub’s latest study, Oklahoma ranks 50th nationwide, outpacing only New Mexico for the worst school systems. The study included Washington, D.C., resulting in 51 locations ranked.
Out of a total of 100 points - 80 points for quality education and 20 for school safety - Oklahoma scored a total of 32.62 points. While the state’s safety rank places it at 34th safest nationwide, the quality of education tells a vastly different story.
Related: Walters refuses to answer while several senior OSDE staff left the department
Here’s what education looks like in Oklahoma, according to the WalletHub study.
Oklahoma ranked 50th for quality education
Oklahoma’s quality education score ranks the Sooner State 50th out of 50 states and Washington, D.C., as evaluated by WalletHub.
The survey consistently placed Oklahoma in the bottom 10 states for numerous categories, including:
Median ACT Score (49)
Reading Test Scores (48)
Dropout Rate (46)
Median SAT Score (45)
Math Test Scores (44)
Pupil-Teacher Ratio (39)
The categories were scored based on 32 relevant metrics for each section.
The state’s worst category, median ACT score, was broken down by ACT last October.
Although Oklahoma scored 49 out of 51 on the ACT, it tied for third place alongside Arizona and Nevada, making it one of the lowest-scoring states. In 2024, the average ACT score of nearly 50,000 Oklahoma high school graduates who took the test was 17.6, lower than the national average of 19.4.
Across each section, the average scores were as follows:
English: 16.8
Math: 17
Reading: 18.2
Science: 17.9
All of these averages are below the benchmark. The percentage of Oklahoma students taking the ACT meeting college-readiness benchmarks:
Meeting English benchmark of 18: 40%
Meeting Reading benchmark of 22: 29%
Meeting Math benchmark of 22: 15%
Meeting Science benchmark of 23: 17%
Why does Oklahoma rank low?
WalletHub said the study is meant to dive into how funding public schools is often an indicator of the school system's success.
“The quality of public school systems varies widely from state to state, though, and is often a question of funding. Public elementary and secondary education money usually flows from three sources: the federal, state and local governments,” the article reads.
Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, said while having money and allocating properly is a “big role” in how good a system will be, it’s not the entire pie.
Related: Oklahoma schools waiting for federal funds to teach English for migrant students
“How funds are applied also plays a big role in how good a school system is, as does the quality of educators, other professionals and the curriculum. In addition, schools need to focus not just on test scores but also on making sure that students feel safe, comfortable and cared for,” Lupo said.
Recent Oklahoma developments in education
Much of the funding of public schools has been called into question by Superintendent Ryan Walters. The conservative superintendent ruled that schools would not receive funding for the 2025-26 school year if they did not comply with non-diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
This called for all public schools to remove all mentions of DEI or similar initiatives from their handbooks.
Similarly, Walters also ruled that teachers coming from “woke” states like California and New York would be required to take an ideology test on the U.S. Constitution, American exceptionalism and “fundamental biological differences between boys and girls.”
“As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safe guarded [sic] from radical leftist ideology that California and New York have fostered,” Walters said in an email to StateImpact. “Teacher’s [sic] who move from these states will not be receiving a teaching certificate unless they pass our new assessment.”
WalletHub ranks New York 7th for best quality education nationwide, and California 29th.
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2025/07/24/oklahoma-schools-ranked-nearly-the-worst-in-the-nation-in-new-study/85310196007/
Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/
