Oklahoma Afterschool Network Highlights
State Superintendent Sandy Garrett

On July 10, 2007, State Superintendent Sandy Garrett told approximately 2,500 education and business leaders that more instructional time is just one of several critical changes needed for Oklahoma schools to become globally competitive.

School leaders also need to complete the "unfinished business" of implementing Oklahoma's Achieving Classroom Excellence Act (ACE) and complying with the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, while lawmakers must commit to investing in the state's pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade students at the national average, Garrett said.

The remarks came in Garrett's annual "State of Education" address, which was given at the Cox Convention Center Arena in Oklahoma City as part of the State Superintendent's Annual Leadership Conference, an official event of the Oklahoma Centennial.  The address, titled "The Race is On," outlined the need for Oklahoma school leaders to view their schools' global competitiveness as an actual competition, a race on which their performance determines their students' futures.

"Some say you can 'survive or thrive.'  I opt for the latter," Garrett said.  "As Oklahoma school leaders, we're on the starting line of our state's next century of public schools.  We're in a race to protect the time of childhood and to use it in the best interest of children who, as adults, will need skills far beyond what we possess today."

To go from the starting line to the victory lap requires critical changes, one of which involves how much instructional time is currently being offered to Oklahoma students.  Compared to the rest of the nation, Oklahoma has a short instructional calendar and year, and the national average of 6.5 hours in 180 days is modest compared to Europe and the Far East.  Garrett said while Japanese students attend school 240 days each year and Chinese pupils attend school nine-hours for 200 days, Oklahoma requires six hours in 175 instructional days