Education policy and reform in the state of Oklahoma after 1950 and the achievement gaps of underserved student populations

Abstract

The educational reform brought about by the U.S. federal government and the state of Oklahoma after 1950 perpetuated an already broken system rather than creating the needed change for all minority student populations across socioeconomic divides and ethnicities. While educational reform has been on the political agenda for every president since the 1960's debate between Kennedy and Nixon; the federal government has failed to positively influence student outcomes, specifically for those minorities of color and of the economically disadvantaged. Local, national, and global reports all point to the mediocracy of America's education system despite spending much more than most industrialized countries on education. The state of Oklahoma, a geographic anomaly, has an interesting educational history with progressive reforms and contradictory policies that have harmed minority student populations. It is here in Oklahoma that my research will find what state reform has done to affect minority students in the past 80 years.