The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in Math. The lowest is 20% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Tulsa Classical Academy (charter)
Tulsa Classical Academy is a young charter school district serving kindergarten through eighth grade, with a stated plan to add one high school grade each year. It opened its doors in fall 2022 as what publicly reported information identifies as Oklahoma’s first classical charter school, founded by a local nonprofit group. For a parent considering this option, the central question is how a school built on a specific educational philosophy—classical education focused on cultivating virtue, wisdom, and lifelong learning—translates into academic results for its students in its early years.
The school’s enrollment is modest for a district serving its grade span, and the student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of students who are two or more races and an even smaller share who are Hispanic. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, as well as counts of students with disabilities and English learners, was not available in the dataset, so a reader cannot assess the school’s economic or special-education profile from this record. This is a common gap for a new charter school, but a parent may want to ask the school directly about these figures.
On state assessments, the academic picture is mixed and shows a clear pattern. In mathematics, proficiency rates decline noticeably as grade levels rise. In third grade, more than half of students scored at the proficient level or above. By fourth and fifth grades, that rate drops to about three in ten. Among seventh graders, roughly one in four were proficient. For eighth graders, fewer than one in ten met the proficient threshold. In English language arts, the pattern is similar: third-grade proficiency was below three in ten, fourth grade was lower still, and fifth grade was about one in five. Seventh graders showed a relative uptick at about one in three meeting the bar. Results for sixth and eighth grade in both math and ELA, and for eighth-grade science, were suppressed, meaning the data was not reported, which can happen with small groups. For fifth-grade science, about one in five students were proficient. When compared against other districts in Tulsa County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the group, a position that reflects the weaker results in the upper elementary and middle school grades.
Because the school does not yet serve a full high school, there is no graduation rate to report. The classical model itself is a distinguishing characteristic. This is not a neighborhood school in the traditional sense; it is a charter that families choose, and its entire offering is built around a curriculum rooted in the classical tradition. The school’s website, as publicly reported, describes an emphasis on the liberal arts, the study of great works, and a goal of forming students in virtue. For a family whose educational values align with that approach, the school provides a tuition-free public pathway that did not exist in the Tulsa area before 2022. For a family less concerned with a specific pedagogical philosophy, the primary takeaway is a school whose early academic data shows strength in the primary grades but a steep drop-off in proficiency by eighth grade, a pattern that warrants a direct conversation with the school about its curriculum and instructional strategies as students move into the upper grade levels.
The school’s location was not listed in the data provided, but the broader context is the Tulsa/Jenks area, a region with a wide range of traditional public, charter, and private school options. Housing market data for the area was not available in this record. The school district itself is a single-campus operation, with one school, Tulsa Classical Academy, housing all grades. There was no information on the facility, class sizes, teacher qualifications, or extracurricular offerings. For a parent, the most actionable step is to visit the school, observe classes, and ask how the classical model is implemented differently across grade levels, and how the school plans to address the proficiency declines seen in its older students.
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