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Report Shows Oklahoma Students Improve in Reading, Struggle in Math

U.S. Department of Education / Flickr

The “nation’s report card,” released Tuesday, shows that Oklahoma students are making gains in reading, but are struggling in math.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, compares state by state data in various subjects, and releases the report card every two years.

Here is a summary of Oklahoma’s rankings, split up in to fourth and eighth grade reading and math:

READING

Oklahoma increased its scores in both fourth grade and eighth grade reading.

In fourth grade, Oklahoma’s 2015 scores are five points higher than the 2013 scores. Oklahoma was one of 13 states to see growth in this category. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joy Hofmeister, attributes this to Oklahoma’s Reading Sufficiency Act, which puts a lot of focus on reading in the third grade.

The national score is 221, Oklahoma’s score is 222.

However, even though the score increased, Oklahoma ranks 37th nationally for the number of students scoring proficient on the fourth grade reading test. This year, 33 percent of Oklahoma students scored proficient.

In eighth grade, Oklahoma increased its score just slightly, but it's still below the national average. Oklahoma’s score came up one point, from 262 to 263; the national average is 264.

About 29 percent of Oklahoma’s students scored proficient on the reading test, which puts Oklahoma 40th nationally.

MATH

Oklahoma increased its fourth grade math score slightly, and its eighth grade math score dropped slightly.

Oklahoma’s 2013 fourth grade math score was 239, this year it is 240, putting Oklahoma’s fourth graders right in line with the national average. About 37 percent of students scored proficient on this test, which ranks Oklahoma 36th nationally.

The 2015 eighth grade math score dropped one point from 2013, from 276 to 275; Oklahoma is about 6 points below the national average in this category. About 23 percent of students scored proficient on this test,  ranking Oklahoma 46th nationally.

Copyright 2015 KOSU

In graduate school at the University of Montana, Emily Wendler focused on Environmental Science and Natural Resource reporting with an emphasis on agriculture. About halfway through her Master’s program a professor introduced her to radio and she fell in love. She has since reported for KBGA, the University of Montana’s college radio station and Montana’s PBS Newsbrief. She was a finalist in a national in-depth radio reporting competition for an investigatory piece she produced on campus rape. She also produced in-depth reports on wind energy and local food for Montana Public Radio. She is very excited to be working in Oklahoma City, and you can hear her work on all things from education to agriculture right here on KOSU.
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