TULSA, Okla. — Standards for state test scores have changed and some educators said they don’t give an accurate account of how students are doing.

The concerned educators said State Superintendent Ryan Walters lowered the standards and they want to know why.

FOX23 dug into the data and asked the tough questions about what this means for families.

The question most parents and teachers have is how to compare a student’s growth year to year if you change the cut-off for proficiency scores.

This cut-off is called “score cuts.”

Those were changed by the Department of Education for last year’s tests and many of the school districts FOX23 reached out to said they were never told about it.

“Look the reality is test standards were changed and passed in the legislature. The test had to be changed in accordance with the new standards,” Walters said.

Walters answered questions about those changes at the last State Board of Education meeting.

“Look we are actively working with districts now through that process to say here’s how these decisions were made,” Walters said.

He claims they’ve been working with schools on this development since the standards for proficiency scores were allegedly lowered.

When FOX23 reached out to schools in the area, they said they’d heard nothing about these changes, only that test scores were released last week.

FOX23 reached out to some unnamed school districts on Friday morning to ask if they received any update from the state about test score changes.

One school said they didn’t, but in the results, it’s clear they changed.

Another school said they didn’t either. They said they are aware that they changed but are not aware of what those specific changes were.

Those two schools share state total numbers with FOX23.

In third-grade English and language arts from the 2023 to 24 test scores, the state saw an overall 22% increase.

This is massive when compared to the year prior that saw no change and 2 years ago when there was a 4% increase.

Fifth-grade math scores increased by 10% from the previous year when they had also not been known to jump up or down by a few points between each year.

Eighth-grade English also saw a jump of 20% for the entire state year to year, but the year prior there was a 5% decrease.

“We want to make sure people understand it’s a different test over different standards. So what is the comparison to last year? What are the things you can take away from it,” Walters said.

FOX23 also questioned lawmakers from both parties on Friday to find out what they say the problem is with making these drastic changes.

“We try to gauge student improvement based on those test scores. It’s part of our A to F system,” said Democratic State Representative John Waldron of Tulsa.

Waldron said state tests are vital for comparing the academic growth of students and schools from year to year. Changing those standards can make tracking that data tough.

“But what’s happening here is the cut scores, the basic scores to be able to be considered basic, below proficient, etc. Those are determined by the state and this year, the cut scores have been different than the previous year,” Waldron said.

FOX23 told you some of the statewide data on these scores showed dramatic changes in scores that the state had not seen in prior years.

“So, it’d be like kicking a field goal in football, and somebody’s moving the goalpost. So what’s considered in or out changes based on where the goalposts are. We moved the goalpost,” Waldron said.

FOX23 also spoke over the phone with Republican State Representative Mark McBride.

He believes nothing nefarious is happening behind the scenes when changing these scores.

He believes the mistake made by the State Board of Education was not communicating these changes and how to examine the data to Oklahoma schools.

“I didn’t know if someone was fabricating scores or what was going on,” said McBride. “This is something that has been in the making for 6 years, they do this every 6 years. The problem that I was told is that the Department of Education did not talk to all the players, teachers, parents, students and superintendents and explain to them what was going on.”

Waldron said although no one can say if these scores were inflated to make the current board look better, the system in place allows such things to happen.

“The whole system of testing is too complicated for the average person to understand and too easy to manipulate. We should ask some questions whether the system, which is supposed to be gathering data for student performance, is subject to political manipulation,” Waldron said.

Walters said he was working with school districts throughout this process.

Walters said academic standard changes are the result of evaluations by the State Board of Education and the state legislature.

FOX23 also reached out to the State Board of Education about the reactions from educators and asked for documents showing when and how that communication happened.

As has happened in many requests from Walters’ office, we did not get a response despite multiple attempts.

You can view all test scores by age and school district by clicking here.