Tulsa Public Schools is adding expectations for student and family engagement in its next strategic plan — and operating on a slower timeline for making it official.
The district is deep in the process of building its next strategic plan, informing where the district puts funds, staffing and effort from 2027 to 2032. After nearly four hours Tuesday, the board unanimously moved forward on draft goals, guardrails and guiding statements for that plan.
The district’s current draft now includes two guardrails.
The first largely mirrors the current plan, preventing the superintendent from causing “disproportionate academic outcomes” for students. The second is new and prevents the superintendent from implementing district strategy without “engagement from students, families and staff through established feedback processes.”
“Communication and transparency has to be a part of what we are going forward,” said board member John Croisant.
The board cut a guardrail focused on special education at its last drafting meeting. On Tuesday, Superintendent Ebony Johnson said she remains responsible for ensuring students receiving special education services are still supported, even without a formal guardrail.
“How do we just make sure that the special education department knows that we’re going to be checking for X, Y and Z as just a part of our regular work that we do in TPS?” Johnson said. “It’s just an expectation that’s how the department is run.”
The district’s goals will continue to focus on literacy and post-secondary readiness.
TPS plans to continue measuring literacy progress with Oklahoma School Testing Program scores — the annual test reading and math tests that measure third to eighth grade students on a scale from below basic to advanced.
The board voted to continue tracking the number of students scoring basic or above on OSTP assessments in its draft plan, not raising the measurement to proficient or above.
In 2025, only 16% of TPS students scored proficient or above, compared to 46% for basic or above. In both categories, TPS fell behind the statewide average last year by around 10%.
“As a state, we have a very rigorous bar for proficiency,” said Sean Berkstresser, the district’s chief strategy officer. “These numbers are low. We have so much room to grow, the state numbers are also low.”
The district made a slight change to its post-secondary readiness goal, tracking the percentage of seniors who earn credits or credentials, not “graduates.” This means the district would be held accountable for every senior in its buildings — a wider pool than just those who graduate.
The board also unanimously approved draft mission and vision statements that guide the strategic plan.
- VISION: “Tulsa Public Schools will ensure equitable access to rigorous education that empowers our students to own their future through literacy, experiential learning and forward-thinking opportunities.”
- MISSION: “Through academic rigor, critical thinking, creative problem solving, and diversity of experience, all Tulsa Public Schools students thrive and contribute as empowered, community engaged individuals.”
In previous TPS administrations, these statements could fit on the back of a bus, like “high expectations and excellence for all.” Everyone in the district should have a “fighting chance” at remembering the vision or mission, said Deputy Superintendent Kathy Dodd — citing Union Public Schools as an example.
“We’ll have to order bigger buses,” Johnson said after the board vote.
Board member Kyra Carby jokingly suggested an alternative: “Make education great again.”
“That’s not going in the minutes,” responded board member Stacey Woolley.
What’s next for the district’s strategic plan
Next, the district will work on metrics for its goals and guardrails, then start collecting feedback from working groups in April.
It’s a much more extended timeline than discussed at the previous special board meeting. While TPS initially planned for a board vote on the finalized plan in August, a new timeline presented Tuesday pushed the vote to October.
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