Candidate for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022 Oklahoma Primary Election.
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Get StartedWe need to reduce the barriers that will allow for workplace training, provide more college concurrent enrollment, and give our students a boost to finish college or earn a certification in a trade. We need to streamline testing to allow for additional classroom instruction instead of being forced to use that time to teach to a test. Learn more
I feel allowing teachers to deliver personalized, meaningful, and stress-free instruction is what will keep them in our state and will begin to attract new teachers. Learn more
1) Eliminating the single-grade A-F Report Card; 2) Putting the teacher evaluation system back in the hands of the local district instead of in the hands of the SDE; 3) Exempting our special needs students from the state testing process and using their IEPs to gauge their growth and outline appropriate instruction according to their unique needs. Learn more
Students will be at all levels of learning loss. There will be some students that will succeed regardless of the delivery of the instruction. Children are resilient, and with a direct focus on instruction and targeting learning gaps, our students will have an opportunity to gain ground on any learning loss. Learn more
4) Eliminating state testing as it exists and replacing it with a pre-test, post-test process which would measure student growth instead of an exam that is created as a ‘gotcha’ measure of one particular moment on one day of the year. Learn more
A personal goal of mine is to exempt special education students from being required to participate in the state testing process. The IEP should be the instrument used to gauge their growth as well as inform and guide their education. I believe it is a violation of IDEA to give students an inappropriate test that has nothing to do with the goals and objectives of their IEP and which also sets these students up for failure. Learn more
I believe we always have to carefully manage our school funds. We have to be good stewards of the funds that are allocated to us. For the survival of small schools, every penny has to be accounted for, and spending has to be done efficiently or a rural school could easily close due to mismanagement of funds. Learn more
We have already seen increased costs in building materials, bus gas, and the price of food. We provide meals, breakfast and lunch to all of our students at no cost. Our current rate of free/reduced lunch count is at 77 percent, which allows us to run a streamlined budget to provide this service to our students. Learn more
There is a teacher shortage. Not too long ago, the teaching profession, our teachers, were revered. Teachers were held at high esteem. We need to put a focus on celebrating our teachers and work to increase the pool of potential teachers, and give teachers the freedom to teach instead of using scripted materials. We have to do a better public relations campaign to entice young people to become teachers. Learn more
I would love to see our state take care of teachers and their families by providing more affordable health insurance for families and dependents of teachers. Learn more
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