Tulsa public schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma are a K-12 system with more than 75 schools serving more than 36,000 students. These schools represent diverse students speaking different languages. If you can align the needs of your child with what you find in this guide, you can find the right school for your family.
Important Public Schools
The communities of respective public schools can be significantly improved by the schools. These schools can act as a key platform for improving the welfare of their children.
Policymakers and social reformers put pressure on public schools to work on improving the lives of children. They answered with programs like snacks and lunches for low-income students.
Powerful School Districts
Parents and the state crave excellence from education, and a school district can achieve more toward this end than can individual schools alone.
In a district's office, problems can be identified, plans formulated, and best practices pondered, decided, and dispersed. People are held accountable in a district office.
Relevant Tulsa High Schools
Union High had 30 classrooms in 1972 when it was built, but by 1985, eight additions had been added making the school over 12 times the size it was in '72. Then, Union High opened the doors to its students for the 1998-1999 school year with a new commons area and 36 more classrooms.
Booker T Washington High was built in 1913, and then, it was only a four-room building with four students and two teachers. The school was named after Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915), who was born of an African American mother and a white father. Washington was a slave at birth but was freed at age nine.
He began attending college at age 16 working as a janitor to pay his way. He taught, and he went to seminary school. He later went on to become Tuskegee Institute's first principal.
There, he publicly supported African Americans and encouraged them to advance their moral and economic situations and earn their constitutional rights. Booker T Washington High has been reconstructed, even moved. In 2003, the school celebrated its 90th anniversary.
In 1962, Memorial High opened its doors and was named to memorialize the teachers and students of Tulsa who were soldiers, nurses, etc., in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
There was much angst in the hearts of Americans due to the Cuban missile crisis, civil rights unrest, and more. John F Kennedy, president at the time, was assassinated the next year in 1963.
Eponymous Tulsa Middle Schools
Several schools exist that carry historical weight, harkening back to the school’s founders and influences. These individuals, though long gone, built a foundation of education that the school stands on in today’s environment.
In 1928, during the Great Depression and Oklahoma's Dust Bowl, Carver Middle School opened its doors. The school was named after George Washington Carver (1864-1943), an African American agricultural scientist.
Famed for his peanut research, he was also deeply devoted to Southern African American farmers, as they were poor, and farming is not always a kind way to make a living. He helped them to understand alternative crops and how to prevent soil depletion.
He was well-regarded in the white community, as well, because of all his accomplishments. President Franklin D Roosevelt made a national monument of his childhood home, the first such honor of an African American.
Named in 1954, Thomas A Edison Preparatory School was named after the inventor born Thomas Alva Edison on February 11, 1847. Born in Ohio and reared in Michigan, Edison died in 1931.
He only went to school for a few months but was taught by his mother. He devised the motion picture camera and the phonograph.
Tulsa Elementary Schools: Educating the City’s Youngest
Clinton West opened in 1925 as a senior high school becoming a middle school in 1938. In 2017, the middle school students were moved, the Clinton Middle School was renamed Clinton West Elementary School.
The school was named after Charles Clinton (1847-1888) and his wife, Louise Atkins. He married Louise, a teacher, and a Creek citizen, who rode horseback and collected funds to build the first school and church in Red Fork. In 1884, she received a federal allotment for the Clinton land where Clinton West now sits.
Now known as the Dolores Huerta Elementary School, the school was named for an American civil rights activist and labor leader. She and Cesar Chavez co-founded the National Farmworkers Association.
In 1965, they organized the Delano grape strike, which resulted in better wages and improved working conditions for 10,000 workers. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Effective Private Schools
Private schools charge tuition because are not government funded, so they have the freedom not to follow the national curriculum guidelines.
However, private schools usually excel in academics anyway, and according to NCES, they are getting it right. Students at private schools are two times as likely to become college graduates if they finished at least the eighth grade in private schools.
Successful Christian Schools
A Christian school is a private school, as, by law, a public school is not allowed to teach a single-only religion, and a Christian school is focused on Christianity or the belief in Jesus Christ only. The curriculum at such a school does cover literacy, math, social studies, and science - all the basic subjects, however, it teaches from a Christian viewpoint.
The great divide that exists between Christian schools and other schools is their teaching from a stance of creationism over evolution.
In Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, there are 13 Catholic schools: Holy Family Classical School, Marquette Catholic School and many others.
Their mission is to teach the message of Jesus Christ by inspiring students to learn always, to deepen their love for God, and to follow Jesus' example of respect and compassion for self and others.
The Church on the Move's educational wing was home to Lincoln Christian School when it opened to about 70 students with 4-year-old kindergartners through 5th graders. It wasn't long before it was serving kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2003, Lincoln graduated its first senior class.
Victory Christian School first opened its doors in 1979 to kindergartners through 6th graders. In the first year, over 200 students attended. In 1985, Victory Christian grew to 600 students and they had to move to a larger facility. In 1989, it opened a new facility on S Lewis. By 1995, it had over 800 students.
Purposeful Charter Schools
Many charter schools close within the first five years because of poor performance, but if they remain past that, they are probably solid schools.
While some charter schools score better than public schools in some subjects, it depends on the context of the teaching style and student population. Do your due diligence when determining whether a charter school is right for your child.
Tulsa Legacy Charter's faculty and staff stress that they have the social, emotional, and creative development of their children prioritized as a foundation for success in their work and interactions with others.
Approximately 600 students have been enrolled in Tulsa Legacy at one time with a student to teacher ratio of 15:1.
Another school, Epic Charter, offers online learning with one-on-one, face-to-face instruction and guidance, as needed. Its students can set their own pace and benefit from an individualized curriculum.
The mission of Epic Charter is to fulfill each student's potential with an educational plan focused on school and family partnership that is personalized to achieve optimal performance.
Top-Shelf Boarding Schools
Boarding schools are not uptight and strict in the deepest sense. They are often portrayed this way or as a home for unwanted, troubled children, but many children just go there for a better education.
Convenient Summer Schools
Summer schools are optional but can have advantages. Elementary and middle schools normally hold four-hour classes four days a week, and high schools normally hold five-hour classes five days a week. Online summer school is available, too. This option lets students work at a self-set pace.
Diverse Tulsa Schools
Whether a scholar or an athlete, your student can go to the school that suits them. Tulsa is a place of diversity to find the school you are looking for.