Accountability and Assessment

Welcome to the Office of Accountability and Assessment, Oklahoma Schools Testing Program Web site! Our goal is to improve academic achievement for all Oklahoma students. We accomplish this by enabling school administrators, educators, parents and the community with the tools and information needed to accelerate learning.

There are many levels of accountability - national, federal, state, and district.

Federal Accountability - No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires all states, including Oklahoma, to establish state academic standards and assessments that meet federal requirements for monitoring the Adequate Yearly Progress of schools. Failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress results in being named a School In Need Of Improvement.

State Accountability - There are 3 types of assessments within the Oklahoma Student Testing Program for Grades 3-8 and "End-of-Instruction" (EOI) secondary level tests. All are aligned to the state-mandated Core curriculum, the Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS), which has been adopted by the State Board of Education. The 3 assessments are:

General Assessments: These assessments are intended for Grades 3-8 in various subject areas and 7 EOI assessments.
(Also referred to as: Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests, OCCT)

Modified Assessments: These modified assessments are intended for some students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams have determined that the students would not be expected to achieve grade level proficiency within the year covered by their IEPs.
(Also referred to as: Oklahoma Modified Alternative Assessment Program, OMAAP)

Portfolio Assessments: These assessments measure achievement of alternate academic standards of the state curriculum for children with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
(Also referred to as: Oklahoma Alternate Assessment Program, OAAP)

District Accountability - Oklahoma's Academic Performance Index (API) was created in law to measure the performance and progress of a school or district based on several factors, primarily state test scores, that contribute to overall educational success. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is based on federally approved state defined performance benchmarks. Schools that fail to meet the AYP benchmarks face a number of possible sanctions outlined by the federal law.

District Report Cards - The API status of each school district and each district's student achievement on General Assessments are available here for your information and use. The information contained in these reports meet reporting requirements in the "No Child Left Behind Act." Public Law 107-110

ACT - American College Test

SAT - Scholastic Assessment Test

National - Sample Testing/Accountability - The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "The Nation's Report Card," does not provide scores for individual students or schools; instead, it offers national and state results regarding subject-matter achievement. Oklahoma's sample is approximately 2,800 students on each test.

Contact Information
Jennifer Stegman, Assistant Superintendent, Accountability & Assessments (API/AYP), (405) 521-3341
Joyce DeFehr, Executive Director, State Testing, (405) 521-3341

Or contact the SDE Public Affairs Division, (405) 521-3371