Marking a transformative milestone for public education transparency in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board (SCSB) today announced the release of its 2024 Annual Report of Oklahoma Charter Schools, a dynamic and interactive data platform designed to bring heightened insight in the state’s charter school system.
Created under landmark legislation passed by the Oklahoma State Legislature and signed by the Governor in 2023, the SCSB officially began operations on July 1, 2024. Among the many statutory responsibilities of the SCSB in the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act is to issue an annual report on the status of state charter schools. Past annual reports were PDF-style summaries published by the Oklahoma Department of Education. However, the SCSB’s first annual report is a state-of-the-art, interactive public dashboard detailing charter school performance, demographics and finances over the last three school years, allowing policymakers, educators, and families to explore key indicators of brick-and-mortar and virtual charter schools and comparative analysis with traditional public schools.
“We believe this marks a significant evolution in state agency public reporting,” said SCSB Executive Director Dr. Rebecca Wilkinson. “The public and policymakers should have more ease in accessing key performance indicators about their public schools and being able to easily decipher that information. Our aim in making this annual report an interactive data dashboard that we will continually improve and make more robust is to enhance transparency and foster discussions on best practices within our charter school system.”
The dashboard was developed through a strategic partnership between the SCSB and the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center (OPSRC). Securing a three-year grant to have the nationally recognized research firm Education Strategy Consulting (ESC) build a comprehensive Oklahoma public education data visualization platform was a significant step forward in this process. The 2024 Annual Report of Oklahoma Charter Schools is the first tool to emerge from the partnership, with more to come on all public schools later this week, said OPSRC Executive Director Dr. April Grace.
“We were aware that the Statewide Charter School Board wanted to engage in serious, meaningful innovation in public reporting on charter schools, and we wanted to create a data visualization tool for Oklahoma education that made state education data not only accessible, but actionable,” said Dr. Grace. “It made sense for us to join forces on this project, and we are very pleased with the first asset to emerge from our partnership. We look forward to rolling out a dashboard for all Oklahoma schools later this week.”
Added Ben Sayeski, ESC's co-founder and managing partner: “The new annual reports give the SCSB, policymakers, and the public the opportunity to sort schools by a variety of metrics and develop a deeper understanding of performance data, which will benefit students across school types. With these more dynamic reports, the SCSB and OPSRC are positioning Oklahoma in the vanguard nationally for transparency and innovation.”
Key findings from the 2024 Annual Report 0f Oklahoma Charter Schools include:
Demographics
· Charter schools serve 7.4% of Oklahoma’s public-school population.
· Brick-and-mortar charter schools are the most racially and economically diverse of all public schools, serving an 82.1% economically disadvantaged student population, compared to 65% in traditional public schools.
· Hispanic students make up nearly 58% of brick-and-mortar charter students higher than both virtual charters and traditional schools.
· Virtual charter schools serve the highest percentage of special education students (22.1%), a significant figure compared to 17.9% in traditional public schools.
Academic Performance
· Despite serving a more economically disadvantaged population, brick-and-mortar charter schools have nearly closed the performance gap with traditional public schools’ state average. However, when compared to the actual school district in their attendance boundaries, most (83%) of Oklahoma brick-and-mortar charter schools outperform the traditional school district.
· In 2022, only 21% of brick-and-mortar students were proficient on state exams, compared to the state average of 28%. However, in 2024, the gap closed between the two types of public schools to just two percentage points, with 35% of brick-and-mortar charter school students scoring proficient, compared to the state average of 37%.
· Virtual student proficiency has increased from 17% to 23%, but it is the lowest margin of growth among public school students. However, state testing conditions in virtual schools should be considered in making direct comparisons with brick-and-mortar charters and traditional schools.
· While the OSDE lowered cut scores in 2023-2024, it is still valid to make school comparisons.
Financial
· All Oklahoma charter schools have seen increased state and federal funding since 2021. In 2024, average state-local per-pupil expenditures were $8,972 (brick-and-mortar charters), $9,050 (virtual charters), and $9,927 (traditional public schools).
· The funding gap between charter and traditional schools is widening, with brick-and-mortar charters receiving $955 less per student than traditional schools in 2024.
· On average, virtual charter schools have seen the most dramatic growth in their per-pupil expenditures, up by nearly $3,000 per student since 2021. During the same time frame, that figure rose $1274 for brick-and-mortar charters and $1608 for traditional schools.
· The 2023-2024 school year was the last year that public schools received federal pandemic funding. As such, the 2025 annual report is expected to show decreases in Oklahoma charters schools’ federal funding
A portal to the full annual report/interactive platform is now live on the SCSB’s website under the "Resources" tab. The report includes a two-minute tutorial, Executive Summary and Frequently Asked Questions to help the public and policymakers optimize its use.
“We are proud of what has been accomplished for public charter school reporting in year one, and we look forward to having conversations with policymakers and our charter school community in the coming weeks to make our platform an even more robust tool by the 2025 annual report,” said Dr. Wilkinson.
