Did Oklahoma rank No. 17 in education under a Democratic governor in the 2000s?

Oklahoma ranked No. 17 in education in Education Week’s 2011 report and has since fallen to No. 49 in its most recent report, 2021. 

The rankings include other metrics, such as success odds and financial analysis. For student achievement, which includes NAEP fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores, Oklahoma ranked No. 35 and No. 48 in 2011 and 2021, respectively. 

Focusing on NAEP scores, Oklahoma’s results were once above average, peaking at No.17 in the late 1990s, before holding mid-to-upper 30s positions for much of 2000 to 2017. Rankings began to fall into the bottom 10 in 2019. 

NAEP averages at all levels nationwide dropped because of the COVID-19 pandemic and are still below pre-pandemic levels. 

Despite near-last rankings from 2000 to 2017, Louisiana and Mississippi were the only states to increase test scores over the last decade, showing that low-ranking states can substantially improve.