(SPS) – In a new ranking by ‘U.S. News & World Report,’ Sapulpa Public Schools’ Freedom Elementary ranked in the top 30 Oklahoma elementary schools for 2022.
U.S. News, known for its annual ranking of colleges and universities, recently released its inaugural list of Best Elementary Schools. Freedom is 26th on the prestigious list, and one of only eight elementary schools located in the northeastern part of the state in the top 30.
“Freedom Elementary students have consistently performed well in state testing, but this ranking is a testament to our teachers and staff,” said Rob Armstrong, Superintendent of Sapulpa Public Schools. “They are educating the whole student and they recognize the needs of each individual in order to prepare our students for middle school, high school, college and beyond. And that’s the real meaning behind this ranking.”
A total of 47,325 elementary schools were ranked nationwide, including 684 in Oklahoma. The list includes public, private, charter and magnet schools.
This is not the first such honor for Freedom, which was named a national Blue Ribbon School in 2020—one of just 367 schools nationwide and six in Oklahoma. Freedom is also recognized as a Great Expectations school and an Oklahoma A+ school.
“This is an absolute honor,” said Alison Owens, Freedom Elementary Principal. “Our teachers and students at Freedom continue to ‘Rise above the Rest’ in all that they do. Our teachers work consistently to create engaging lessons with research-based instructional strategies to provide every student an opportunity for mastery across all subjects.”
U.S. News analyzed numerous factors in its ranking methodology, including reading and math proficiency and performance, enrollment statistics, minority enrollment, student-teacher ratio and teacher experience.
According to U.S. News, half of the ranking formula consisted of the results and the other half was “in the context of socioeconomic demographics.”
“Great elementary and middle schools educate their students from all socioeconomic backgrounds with the goal of setting them up for success,” reads the article.
Middle and high schools were also ranked. Sapulpa Middle School, Sapulpa High School, Sapulpa Junior High, Jefferson Heights Elementary, Holmes Park Elementary and Liberty Elementary received ranking scores from U.S. News.
