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Public schools · Oklahoma · Ratings on state test data

Best Schools in Oklahoma (2026)

Across Oklahoma, 246 districts have enough rated campuses to compare, from Yale at the bottom of the field to Cherokee at the top, and the boundary you choose inside a metro matters more than the state line.

The fieldAverage campus rating of every comparable district, on the 1–10 scale.
District averages run4.0Yaleto8.3Cherokeeon the one-to-ten scale.

246 districts rated · median district 6.2

The way in

I'm choosing a school for
  1. Oklahoma City

    Explore the school map across 7 counties.

The brief

About schools in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma's public school system spans 1,747 ranked schools across a geography that mixes sprawling metros, mid-size cities, and wide-open rural plains. The system covers 915 elementary schools, 356 middle schools, and 455 high schools — giving parents options at every grade level regardless of where they live. The sheer variety of school types and settings means location and commute tolerance will do a lot of the filtering work before academic quality even enters the equation.

Statewide, the average school scores 6.2 out of 10 on MySchoolScout's composite rating. That's a useful benchmark: schools above 6.2 outperform the state's center of gravity, and schools above 7.0 represent a clearly stronger tier. Exactly 554 schools — roughly 32% of Oklahoma's ranked system — reach that threshold. Parents willing to look beyond their nearest attendance zone will find that one in three Oklahoma public schools clears a meaningful quality bar.

The five highest-rated schools in Oklahoma all sit outside the major metros. Calumet High School in Calumet and Cleora Public School in Afton share the state's peak score at 9.7 out of 10. Fargo Elementary (9.6) and Gypsy Public School in Depew (9.6) follow closely, with Balko Elementary at 9.5 rounding out the top five. Rural schools leading statewide rankings is a consistent national pattern — smaller enrollment and tighter community networks frequently correlate with stronger composite scores. Parents in Oklahoma City and Tulsa gain access to broader program variety and specialized high schools, but Oklahoma's highest individual ratings belong to smaller communities.

Oklahoma City and Tulsa anchor the state's two largest metro areas, each containing dozens of individual school zones with widely varying scores. Parents living in or relocating to either metro should search by city or zip code rather than metro-wide reputation — scores shift significantly from one district to the next within the same area. The map view on MySchoolScout makes that variation visible at a glance.

The practical takeaway: Oklahoma's 32% rate of schools at 7.0 or above means real choices exist for parents who look beyond the default attendance zone. Two-thirds of schools sit at or below the 6.2 state average, so score filtering matters from the start. Elementary families have the deepest inventory — 915 ranked schools at that level, nearly double the high school count. Set a 7.0 score floor as your baseline, then layer in distance and grade band to narrow the list from there.

The districts

Every comparable district on one 1–10 axis, by size.

The ten highest-rated of 246 comparable districts

Average campus rating · rated campuses · students
  1. 1Cherokee8.33379
  2. 2Stonewall8.23443
  3. 3Amber-Pocasset8.13404
  4. 4Thomas-Fay-Custer Unified Dist7.93455
  5. 5Kingfisher7.751,332
  6. 6Welch7.63294
  7. 7Perkins-Tryon7.541,591
  8. 8Thackerville7.43277
  9. 9Vian7.43802
  10. 10Pioneer-Pleasant Vale7.43489

The schools

The ten highest-rated schools; open a profile for the evidence.
  1. 1Gilmour ESKingfisherElementary2649.7
  2. 2Ninnekah ESNinnekahElementary2049.5
  3. 3Perkins-Tryon ESPerkinsElementary4499.1
  4. 4Tupelo ESTupeloElementary1639.1
  5. 5Amber-Pocasset MSAmberMiddle539.1
  6. 6Alex ESAlexElementary2119.0
  7. 7Altus Primary SchoolAltusElementary4449.0
  8. 8Jay ESJayElementary5859.0
  9. 9Paoli ESPaoliElementary1089.0
  10. 10Classen HS of Advanced StudiesOklahoma CityHigh8109.0

The map

Where the highest-rated schools sit.
The 50 highest-rated schools in Oklahoma, pinned and colored by score.Pins are locations, not attendance boundaries.

The cities

The twenty places with the most schools.

Student demographics

  • White65.7%
  • Hispanic or Latino8.7%
  • Two or More Races8.1%
  • American Indian/Alaska Native6.3%
  • Black or African American6.0%
  • Asian5.0%
  • Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander0.3%

Enrollment-weighted average across 153 schools. Source: NCES Common Core of Data (CCD).

The record

Total schools
1,919
1.6% of all US public schools
Districts
545
Cities/towns
416
Average rating
6.2
out of 10
Math proficiency
41%
avg across schools
ELA proficiency
45%
avg across schools
Avg student-teacher ratio
15.6:1
Estimated scores
10%
192 of 1,919 schools use estimated academic data from nearby schools
National rank
#52 of 52
states by avg. composite
Vs. national average
-0.2
below US avg (6.3)
Coverage
98%
of schools with a rating

Community profile

Averages across 479 ZIP codes (ACS 2022)

Median income
$60,712
Median home value
$148,501
Median rent
$861/mo
College educated
21%
Avg commute
25 min
Poverty rate
16.4%

Questions

How many schools are ranked in Oklahoma?

MySchoolScout has rankings and data for 1,919 public schools across 545 districts in Oklahoma.

What is the average school rating in Oklahoma?

The average MySchoolScout composite score for ranked schools in Oklahoma is 6.2 out of 10.

What percentage of students in Oklahoma are proficient in math?

On average, 40.9% of students across ranked schools in Oklahoma are proficient in math, based on the most recent state assessment data.

What percentage of students in Oklahoma are proficient in reading?

On average, 45.0% of students across ranked schools in Oklahoma are proficient in reading and ELA, based on the most recent state assessment data.

What is the average student-teacher ratio in Oklahoma?

The average student-teacher ratio across ranked schools in Oklahoma is 15.6:1.

What is the top-ranked school in Oklahoma?

The top-ranked school in Oklahoma on MySchoolScout is Gilmour ES in Kingfisher, with a composite score of 9.7/10.

How does MySchoolScout rate schools in Oklahoma?

MySchoolScout rates schools using publicly available data from the NCES Common Core of Data and the Oklahoma Department of Education. Each school receives a 1-10 composite score built from Student Growth, Poverty-Adjusted Academic Achievement, and School Environment — plus College Readiness for high schools. Weights vary by school level, and equity data is shown for context but not scored.

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Related reading

Data from NCES Common Core of Data, Oklahoma Dept. of Education, and U.S. Census ACS for the 2023–24 school year. Rankings computed by MySchoolScout. See all data sources.