By KWGS
Oklahoma City, OK –
The Oklahoma State Department of Education has sanctioned 227 schools for not meeting federal and state performance requirements. It more than doubles last year's School Improvement List.
61 districts were deemed "in need of improvement," a 577 percent increase over last year's total of nine.
Tulsa's been on that list for years, but several area suburban school districts are new this year, including Broken Arrow, Jenks, Sapulpa, Skiatook and Union.
State leaders say the increases were due in large part to significant changes in 2009 in the benchmarks that mark the difference between passing or failing.