The Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Office of Educational Quality and Accountability has released school report cards for the 2024-25 school year.

Five county schools — Central High, Roland High, Roland Elementary, Belfonte Elementary and Marble City Elementary — saw overall improvement over last year’s grading. Unfortunately, five other schools — Sallisaw High, Gore High, Muldrow Elementary, Gore Elementary and Moffett Elementary — received worse overall grades than a year ago. The remaining 17 schools in the county received the same grade as last year.

Of the 27 area schools, 21 received overall grades of Cs and Ds, up from 16 a year ago.

Only Central High, Liberty Public School, Muldrow Middle School, Gore Upper Elementary, Vian Middle School and Roland Elementary recorded overall grades of B.

While there were some areas for several schools in which they scored A’s (seven categories) and B’s (33 categories), there were also as many areas for many schools in which they received Ds and Fs.

Chronic absenteeism, especially at high schools and middle schools, was a recurring concern for most of the schools. This is the final year chronic absenteeism will be a core component of the state report cards, since state lawmakers decided schools shouldn’t be penalized for students’ poor attendance, a factor they said is outside of the school’s control.

Gans High School is the only county school to receive an overall grade of D. A year ago, four schools scored D.

Schools with an overall grade of C were Sallisaw, Muldrow, Roland, Vian, Gore and Webbers Falls high schools; Sallisaw and Roland middle schools; and Eastside, Liberty (Sallisaw), Muldrow, Central, Vian, Gore, Gans, Belfonte, Brushy, Marble City, Moffett and Webbers Falls elementary schools.

Schools were graded in as many as five categories, which resulted in the overall grade. The graded categories were:

• Academic achievement, which measured how prepared students were for the next grade, course or level

• Graduation (for high schools), which was a determination of how well the school supported students at graduating in four, five or six years

• Academic growth (for elementary and middle schools), which measured student growth compared to their performance the previous year

• English language proficiency progress, which grades whether English learners were meeting their language-acquisition targets

• Chronic absenteeism, which measures the percentage of students with good attendance

• Postsecondary opportunities (for high schools), which is a determination of how well schools helped students gain early college and career exposure Closer look

Addressing the elephant in the classroom, almost a quarter of the 27 area schools received D’s or F’s for chronic absenteeism, which is a marked improvement from a year ago when a third of the schools received the worst grades. Only three schools — Gore High, Muldrow Middle and Muldrow Elementary — earned A’s in the same category, a drop from six schools a year ago.

In short for those schools with the worst chronic absenteeism, students either don’t want to go to school, or schools are failing to properly motivate them to attend. Unfortunately, the statewide score for absenteeism is a D, so it is not a problem unique to the county.

While the report card sheds light on how many schools must improve to meet their obligation to their students and the community, Gore Middle School, Roland Elementary and Liberty Public School may be on to something, with the three schools receiving more A’s and B’s than C’s.

Of particular note is that both Sallisaw Middle School and Sallisaw High School received an F for chronic absenteeism, and the high school also received an F for graduation, the same grades as a year ago. Gans and Gore were the only other schools to receive an F for graduation, while Central scored a D. Roland and Webbers Falls received A’s for postsecondary opportunities, while Sallisaw earned a B. Central, Muldrow and Vian received C’s, while Gans and Gore received D’s.

The most successful schools were Liberty Public School and Muldrow Middle School. Both schools received more A’s and B’s than C’s, similar to last year.

The schools where grades indicate the biggest need for improvement are Gans and Sallisaw high schools. Gans received three D’s and two F’s, while Sallisaw received two F’s. A year ago, Gans was the lone high school with the lowest grades, receiving D’s and F’s in all categories.

The high schools

Analysis of grades for area high schools compared to the 2023-24 grades released a year ago shows:

• Sallisaw dipped overall from a B to C, along with a similar drop in academic achievement. Sallisaw improved from a C to B in English language proficiency progress and held stable with a B in postsecondary opportunities. They received an F for graduation and chronic absenteeism, the same since 2017-18, except for a D in absenteeism in 201819.

• Central was one of two to register overall improvement, climbing from a C to B, as well as the same bump up for chronic absenteeism. The school stayed the same year over year with a B for academic achievement, C for postsecondary opportunities and D for graduation.

• Muldrow was the only high school to record B’s and C’s in all categories, earning B’s for graduation, chronic absenteeism and English language proficiency progress, and C’s foracademicachievement, postsecondary opportunities and overall. The school’s graduation grade was an improvement over last year, while its grade for English language proficiency progress was a drop from a year ago.

• As the only other high school improving overall, Roland’s grades were a mixed bag. The school improved from B to A for postsecondary opportunities and from D to C for graduation, but remained the same as a year ago with a D for academic achievement. They saw scores tumble by two letter grades in the remaining two categories: From A to C for chronic absenteeism, and from C to F for English language proficiency progress.

• Vian also had a mixture across the board, remaining the same as last year with C’s for overall and postsecondary opportunities, and improving from C to B for academic achievement.

• Gore slipped from B to C overall, impacted by drops of at least two letter grades for postsecondary opportunities (from B to D) and graduation (from B to F).

• Gans received the county’s worst grades. The only improvement was in English language proficiency progress (from F to D), while the school remained the same as a year ago with D’s in academic achievement and postsecondary opportunities, and F’s in graduation and chronic absenteeism.

The middle schools There was very little change from a year ago. Grades for the five schools remained the same overall, with only two experiencing major changes.

• Sallisaw improved from D to C for academic growth, but slipped from C to D for academic achievement. The school stayed stable with an A for English language proficiency progress, C overall and an F for chronic absenteeism.

• Muldrow dipped from B to C for academic achievement, but remained the same as a year ago with A’s for English language proficiency progress and chronic absenteeism, B overall and C for academic growth.

• Roland experienced a significant drop from A to C for chronic absenteeism, but equalled its grades from last year with an overall grade of C, as well as C’s for academic achievement and academic growth.

• Vian improved from F to C for chronic absenteeism, but dipped from B to C for academic achievement.

• Gore received B’s across the board for academic achievement, academic growth and overall, and the school improved from C to B for absenteeism.

The elementary schools • Eastside received a C for academic growth and overall, grades that were consistent with last year, but dipped from B to C for academic achievement and English language proficiency progress. The school improved from F to D for chronic absenteeism.

• Sallisaw’s Liberty remained stable from a year ago with C’s for academic growth and overall, but slipped from B to C for academic achievement and B to D for English language proficiency progress. The school improved from D to C for chronic absenteeism.

• Muldrow slid from a B to C for academic growth and overall, but remained with C’s for academic achievement and English language proficiency progress. The school duplicated its grade of A for chronic absenteeism.

• Central maintained an overall grade of C and B for academic growth, but slipped from C to D for academic achievement. They improved in chronic absenteeism — from C to B — and from D to C for English language proficiency progress.

• Roland received four B’s — improving from C a year ago for academic growth and overall, as well as receiving a grade for the first time in English language proficiency progress, but slipping from an A for chronic absenteeism. The school equalled its letter grade from last year with a C for academic achievement.

• Save a significant drop from C to F for chronic absenteeism, Gans remained generally on par from last year with C’s for academic achievement and overall, with a dip from B to C for academic growth.

• Belfonte experienced improvements in almost every category, going from C to B for academic growth and D to C for English language proficiency progress, chronic absenteeism and overall. The school remained the same as a year ago with a D in academic achievement.

• Liberty School maintained B’s for academic achievement and overall, and improved from B to A for academic growth. But the school slipped from B to C for chronic absenteeism.

• Moffett remained steady with a B for academic growth, but slipped from A to B for chronic absenteeism and from B to C for academic achievement and overall.