Dove Science Academy Tulsa, Tulsa OK

Original Research by School Decision on Dove Science Academy Tulsa

Dove Science Academy Tulsa is a public charter school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is part of Dove Schools of Tulsa, a small charter district operating within the city. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a majority of students identifying as such, followed by smaller shares of Black, white, and multiracial students, and a very small number of Asian and American Indian students. The school is located in a commercial and industrial corridor of southeast Tulsa, in a building that houses the full PK-8 program under one roof.

Academically, the data presents a mixed picture. On state math assessments, the share of students scoring proficient or above varied widely by grade. Fourth graders had the strongest showing, with about half reaching that benchmark, and seventh and eighth graders also posted rates that were solidly in the middle range. Third and sixth graders, however, had much lower proficiency rates, landing well below even modest expectations. Reading results were consistently lower than math results across every tested grade. In no grade did the share of students reading at the proficient level reach a third. Fifth graders had the highest reading proficiency rate, but it still fell short of the mark most parents would hope to see. Science results were a clear relative bright spot: in both fifth and eighth grades, roughly half of students met the proficiency standard, which was the strongest subject-area performance for the school.

When compared against the broader field of schools in Tulsa County, Dove Science Academy Tulsa’s overall proficiency index placed it in the top quartile of all elementary and middle schools. That is a real strength and signals that the school is performing at a level that exceeds many of its county peers, even if the proficiency rates themselves look low in isolation. Families should understand that this metric is a composite that smooths across subjects and grades, and the reading results in particular are an area where the school is struggling relative to even this favorable county comparison.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on economic disadvantage, special education enrollment, and English learner status was not available in the records reviewed, which makes it harder for a parent to assess the full support context. A family considering the school may want to ask the school directly about its share of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, its special education resources, and its English language development services.

The locale is Tulsa, a city that has transitioned from its historical identity as the Oil Capital of the World to a more diversified economy with strengths in aviation, finance, and technology. The school sits in a part of the city that is heavily shaped by its interstate and toll-road access, less so by the walkable downtown core with its Art Deco architecture and cultural institutions like the Gilcrease Museum and the Woody Guthrie Center. The area around the school is suburban in character, with a mix of residential and commercial development. Housing values in the zip code are below the state average and well below the national average, making this one of the more affordable parts of the Tulsa metro area for families looking to buy.

The housing market has seen a very slight decline in home values over the past year, while rents have risen at a moderate pace. The broader national economic context includes a steady mortgage rate, a low unemployment rate, and rent costs that have been climbing year over year. For a family, that means the relative affordability of the area is holding, though it is not getting cheaper.

The charter network that operates the school, Dove Schools of Tulsa, did not have publicly reported recent changes or strategic priorities available, so the narrative cannot fill that gap. What is clear is that this is a school with a strong countywide standing on overall proficiency, a science program that stands out, and a clear and persistent challenge in reading that a parent would want to understand before enrolling. The school’s student composition and its location in an affordable, mid-sized city with a diversifying economy are characteristics that suit some families well and may not suit others, but they are neither strengths nor weaknesses, they are simply what the place is.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 28% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 42% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 33% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 21% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 34% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 36% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 14% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 19% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 24% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · District 18% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 20% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 26% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 39% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 44% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

This schoolDOVE SCHOOLS OF TULSA (CHARTER), same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.