Sooner State Education Coverage, Driven by Data
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Oklahoma, grounded in Oklahoma Department of Education data.
Piedmont, Deer Creek, and Yukon graduate 96-97% of students while Oklahoma City and Tulsa manage 70-77%, a persistent suburban-urban divide in graduation outcomes.
Guymon Public Schools raised its graduation rate from 60.5% to 90.4% in six years, while English learners climbed from 28.7% to 80.0%.
Native American students in Oklahoma graduated at 84.3% in 2025, outpacing the state average in 6 of 7 years — the opposite of the national pattern.
Oklahoma's Black graduation rate fell from 82.7% to 73.7% during COVID and has only recovered to 78.2%, leaving a 5.3-point gap with white students.
59.5% of Oklahoma districts have recovered to their pre-COVID graduation rate. 115 districts remain below 2019 levels, including Tulsa and Ponca City.
Fort Gibson posted the longest active improvement streak in Oklahoma — five straight years of gains from 52% to 99.1%, with economically disadvantaged and Native American students at 100%.
The graduation gap between students who are economically disadvantaged and their peers peaked at 14.3 points, then shrank to 10.6 over two years.
Tulsa Public Schools' graduation rate dropped from 78% to 66% between 2020 and 2024, and the partial rebound to 70.6% leaves it far below every large-district peer.
Oklahoma traditional districts averaged a 89.4% graduation rate in 2025; the state's five virtual charter schools averaged 49.3%, a 40-point gap.
Oklahoma's 4-year graduation rate hit 82.2% in 2025 after a 3-year recovery, but remains below the 2019 peak and nearly 5 points below the national average.
187 of 541 Oklahoma districts are at all-time low enrollment in 2025-26, including Tulsa, OKC, Moore, and Union. The decline spans every size class.
Anadarko Public Schools has declined 10 consecutive years, losing 586 students and 31% of its enrollment since 2016. No Oklahoma district has a longer active streak.
K-3 enrollment has fallen 12.2% since 2016, losing 26,484 students. High schools are still growing, but the shrinking cohorts will arrive there by 2030.
Inner-ring OKC metro districts lost 19,694 students in a decade while outer-ring suburbs gained 8,469, reshaping the metro's school map.
Thirty-six Oklahoma districts enroll fewer than 100 students combined, serving just 0.3% of the state's children while lawmakers debate consolidation.
