The top reported proficiency rate is 11% in English language arts. The lowest is 10% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Kendall-whittier Es
Kendall-Whittier Elementary School is a neighborhood school in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s largest public school district, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits in the city’s Kendall-Whittier neighborhood, close to downtown and the University of Tulsa. The school is not a charter or magnet school; it is a traditional public elementary school operating as part of Tulsa Public Schools.
The student body is large for an elementary school and is notably diverse in its composition, with the majority of students identifying as Hispanic. White students make up the next largest share, followed by students who identify as Black, two or more races, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The school serves a community that is economically varied, though specific income data was not available in this report.
Academically, state assessment results for the 2024-25 school year show that the share of students scoring proficient or above in math and English language arts was low across all tested grades. In third-grade math, one in about every eight students reached the proficient level, and this rate declined in the upper grades, with fifth-grade math proficiency at its lowest point in the school. In English language arts, fourth grade had the lowest proficiency rate among the grades tested, while third and fifth grade were similar to each other. Science, tested only in fifth grade, had a comparable result. The proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, places this school in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Tulsa County. The state recently changed cut scores for math and English language arts assessments, which means the current numbers may not be directly comparable to prior years. A parent may want to ask the school how its instructional approaches and support programs address these results, and what school-level improvement efforts are in place.
Kendall-Whittier’s standing is inseparable from the district context. Tulsa Public Schools is the largest district in Oklahoma, but it has been under pressure in recent years. In 2023, the Oklahoma State Board of Education lowered the district’s accreditation to “accredited with deficiencies,” citing low academic performance. The district subsequently closed two elementary schools in 2024 as part of a right-sizing effort in response to declining enrollment, which shrank from about thirty-five thousand students in 2015 to roughly thirty-two thousand by 2024. Voters in 2024 approved a bond package funding facility improvements, safety, technology, and instructional materials across all school sites, which will be issued over several years without raising property tax rates.
There is no data in this report on after-school programs, enrichment offerings, tutoring, or specialized academic pathways at Kendall-Whittier, and no data on student discipline or chronic absenteeism. A parent would want to visit the school and speak with staff to understand what academic interventions, English learner supports, and enrichment options are available. The school’s size means it may be able to offer more classroom peers per grade than a very small elementary school, but class sizes and staffing ratios were not provided.
The housing in the area around the school, as measured by the zip code, has home values that are near the middle of the state’s range and below the national typical price. Rents in the same area are also around the state average. The area is part of a broader city economy that has shifted from its historic oil base into finance, aviation, technology, and telecommunications, with institutions such as the University of Tulsa and a downtown Oklahoma State University campus nearby.
For a family considering this school, the academic proficiency numbers are a core consideration. The school is positioned in a district navigating significant change, and its own results are well below state averages. A family would want to understand what specific academic supports the school provides and how the district’s broader improvement plan affects this particular campus. The school’s demographic diversity and its location in an established Tulsa neighborhood with moderate housing costs may appeal to families who value a city school in a mixed-income setting. But the test data leaves questions about how well students are progressing toward grade-level expectations, and those questions are best answered by the school directly.
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