OKLAHOMA CITY — Millwood Public Schools is navigating a complex landscape, achieving what the district calls a “clear success story” in key areas while simultaneously grappling with foundational challenges that have resulted in “D” grades for Academic Achievement across all three schools.
This dual narrative of resilience and urgent need for improvement was detailed in the district’s recent State Report Card presentation to the Millwood School Board.
Superintendent Dr. Robinson Woods presented information regarding successes and next steps for the district in the monthly Board meeting on Dec. 8, 2025.
Areas of Success: Outperforming the State
The district’s most celebrated achievement is in literacy. A sustained focus on instruction has yielded an Exceptional English Language Arts (ELA) Growth Score of 90.0, significantly above the statewide average.
Furthermore, Millwood High School stands out for its success in student completion and readiness:
● High Graduation Rate: Millwood’s four-year graduation rate is 87.9%, substantially higher than the statewide average of 82.2%.
● Postsecondary Opportunities: The district earned an “A” grade in this indicator, reflecting superior student access to advanced coursework and dual credit programs.
The report also highlighted Millwood’s long-term academic trajectory, noting a “remarkable improvement of over 24 points in four years” since 2019, with overall student progress comparable to the state average.
According to the superintendent, Dr. Robinson-Woods, despite strong growth, the district faces a challenge in translating that progress into actual grade-level proficiency, with Academic Achievement scores remaining lower than desirable for all schools.
Two systemic hurdles also pose a barrier to overall performance:
- Chronic Absenteeism: The district rate of 24.9% is well above the state average of 19.1%. This issue is particularly acute at the Elementary School (28.4%) and High School (33.9%).
- English Learner (EL) Progress: The district-wide EL Proficiency rate is 19.2%, behind the state average of 33.9%.
A Model for Success in Key Areas
The Millwood Arts Academy Middle School is cited as a powerful internal model for success, significantly outperforming the rest of the district and the state in these challenging areas.
The Middle School reported a chronic absenteeism rate of only 8.9% (earning a “B” grade) and an ELs Meeting Targets rate of 40.0% (also a “B” grade), showcasing successful strategies that officials say can inform improvement efforts district-wide.
Millwood High School also received a perfect 10/10 points in Postsecondary Opportunities due to its work in increasing access to internships, Advanced Placement Courses and Concurrent (College) classes.
Millwood Elementary Learning Academy has demonstrated remarkable success in improving reading scores over time.
The hard work of Millwood Public Schools is starting to show. According to Dr. Robinson Woods, “although the overall proficiency levels for students has lagged behind the state average, the foundational structures that predict future success are being laid.”
In addition to the positive progress in academic growth, there are no remaining schools in the district on the OK State watch list; all schools have worked their way off of the list. We are not where we want to be, but we know that we have the best and the brightest at Millwood Public Schools and we are delivering on our promise to build Champions in the classroom, in the community and in life.
