The State Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (OEQA) has begun reviewing the performance of Oklahoma’s virtual charter schools. It has completed its first review and gave the state’s largest virtual charter school a positive performance review.
EPIC Charter School has about 9,000 students enrolled across the state. The OEQA report shows the charter school is doing well in metrics such as staff and parent communications, instructional delivery, business operations and facilities management, and the use of secure and reliable technology.
The report also makes recommendations for EPIC to develop a long-term strategic plan, gain more from third parties and continue to engage students to enter more group learning and interactions.
OEQA Executive Director Dr. Daniel Craig praised the virtual school.
“Our team was impressed with EPIC. In many areas, it is on par or better than the districts we compared it to for the purpose of this report, which is our practice for any performance review,” Dr. Craig said. “As with any review, we provide recommendations for continued improvement but we consider this a positive performance review for EPIC.”
The OEQA report was commissioned by the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.
“The Board recognizes the expertise of the OEQA in education data collection and analysis, and they recognize their ability to provide quality independent school performance reviews,” said Statewide Virtual Charter School Board Executive Director Rebecca Wilkinson. “The Board also took this step in an effort to fulfill their statutory oversight responsibilities and to provide another layer in fair accounting of school performance. I am pleased with the results of the EPIC report and appreciate the efforts of both the OEQA and EPIC Charter School.”
Since lawmakers passed a law allowing for online charter schools to operate in Oklahoma, EPIC has seen major growth in enrollment. Superintendent David Chaney believes the report will help the school manage its growth while providing a quality alternative education.
“When you are experiencing the growth we’ve had, having an independent review like this is extremely helpful. It affirms what you are doing right and sheds light on continuous improvement, which should be the model for any school,” he said. “We are grateful the Statewide Virtual Board allowed us to be the first virtual school in Oklahoma to be evaluated in such a rigorous, objective manner, and we encourage our colleagues in preK-12 public education to work with OEQA on performance, too.”
A timeline for other virtual charter school reviews has yet to have been set. OEQA has made the review of EPIC available on its website, www.oeqa.ok.gov.
