Editor’s Note: This essay was updated Aug. 12.
The biggest recent headlines in Oklahoma:
Walters to End State Testing in Schools
Ryan Walters promised ‘serious’ changes in Oklahoma schools. This might be the biggest yet.
Superintendent Ryan Walters suspends end-of-year testing for math and reading.
Let me go through a few caveats.
- Walters’ big announcement last week requires reading the fine print. He says he is ending standardized testing at the end of each school year. Instead of testing at the end of the school year with the math and reading tests mandated by law, his plan is to allow districts to use “alternative assessments” – different tests – periodically throughout the year. This is not a huge shift from teachers’ big aggravation: having to teach to the test. They would face teaching to a different test at a different time instead of at year’s end.
- Walters does say, kudos to him, that his proposal must be approved by the U.S. Department of Education [what’s left of it]. Federal funding is tied to standardized test score reporting, unless a waiver is granted. With characteristic self-confidence leaning into arrogance, Walters anticipates [for no particular reason] that this will be a breeze.
3. Walters does not address the fact that under Oklahoma law, he simply has no authority to do what he says he is going to do. This is not his first time to make bold, premature announcements of an idea he likes being a reality – a fait accompli – before it’s been reviewed, much less approved, by authorities determined by state law. In fact, he pulls this stunt all the time. Huge, huge, huge grain of salt.
4. What the Epstein Files are to Trump, the Naked-Ladies-on-TV scandal is to Walters. We’ve seen what Trump’s panic inspires, in the way of futile, attempted distractions: calling for a return of racist sports team names; threatening to strip Rosie O’Donnell of her citizenship; unveiling a plan for a gilded White House ballroom the size of three football fields. It is quite likely that Walters is mimicking Trump by trying to change the subject to anything but Naked Ladies.
“The end of state testing” makes quite a splash.
But, sorry, Ryan. We haven’t forgotten those nipples and pubic hair.
Julia Kirt, who happens to be my state senator, is also the Democratic leader of the Oklahoma Senate. Her comment on this subject is to the point:
“The only reason Ryan Walters is even talking about high-stakes testing is to distract folks from the countless scandals that have happened under his watch.”
As the OSBI and Oklahoma County investigations of Walter’s TV nudies continue, let’s try not to get distracted.
We’ll see what he throws at us next. Let’s hope it’s not a ballroom in the Oliver Hodge Building.
