A Review of the Oklahoma January 2016 English Language Arts and Mathematics Academic Standards

This report provides a review of Oklahoma’s January 2016 Academic Standards for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. In this review, Achieve compared the January 2016 final version of Oklahoma’s newly developed Academic Standards to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Achieve used the CCSS as the base of comparison because they are the K-12 expectations in English and mathematics in over 40 states.  In addition, an important element of House Bill 3399, signed into law by Governor Mary Fallin in June 2014, requires that the new standards prepare students for college, careers, and citizenship and directs the Oklahoma State Board of Education to compare the proposed ELA and mathematics standards with the previous standards that were adopted by the Board of Education, which is the CCSS. Achieve evaluated the standards using criteria and procedures that Achieve has developed, refined, and used to evaluate academic standards for more than 25 states over the past 15 years. Achieve has used similar methods for comparing standards in 15 countries. These six criteria are rigor, focus, coherence, specificity, clarity/accessibility, and measurability. Achieve’s review also includes a comprehensive side-by-side chart to facilitate an easier comparison.