1. Keep Your Contact Information Updated: Anytime your students experience illness or emergency, we contact you via the numbers you provide. Please update any changes in contact information in your Infinite Campus Parent Portal account or notify your student’s school for assistance. The school and district also use contact information to keep you informed about the best ways to learn about opportunities to get involved. 

2. Join or Start Your School's PTA, PTO, or Parent Group: Talk to your school’s office staff or contact the school district at (405) 587-0234.  

3. Participate With The Indian Education Committee: The Parent Advisory Committee for Indian Education Programs holds monthly meetings. For details, call Native American Student Services at (405) 587-0357. 

4. Attend Learning Opportunities for Families: The district provides opportunities for parents and staff throughout the school year to help parents support their children and their school. Also, Parents as Teachers is a program to help parents get their children off to a great educational start. Services are provided to families who have children from birth to kindergarten including prenatal information for mothers-to-be. The services include home visits by certified parent educators, group meetings to address family issues and concerns, developmental screenings and connecting families to resources in the community. For more information, call (405) 587-0360.

5. Come to School: Parents/guardians are welcome to schedule meetings with their child’s teacher(s) and/or principal.  To promote a safe climate for schools, all visitors sign in at the office to obtain a visitor’s pass and make arrangements with the building principal before entering the school. 

   • To volunteer in your child’s school, please complete the Volunteer Application found on the OKCPS Volunteers web page. All school volunteers are required to complete the application. You may also talk to your child’s teacher or principal regarding volunteer opportunities at the school. For more information, please contact Community Relations at (405) 587-0234. 

   • All schools have an annual Open House during the fall of each year. Parents/guardians and patrons are encouraged to attend. Schools will notify parents concerning the dates and times for Open House. 

   • Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled twice per year as opportunities for families to meet with their child's teacher to check on their student’s learning progress. Contact your teacher to check on their progress throughout the year. Families can call the school to schedule a meeting with school staff before going to the school. Scheduling a meeting ahead of time assures the staff member will be available to meet with you and be prepared with information to address your concerns.

6.  Discuss What Your Student is Reading in Class: Oklahoma City Public Schools is committed to providing equitable access to a world-class education, every Oklahoma City Public Schools student will graduate ready to fulfill their unique purpose in a healthy, vibrant community. This vision outlines the necessity to provide grade-level guidance regarding novel selections.  Too often the same title is presented to students at multiple grade-levels resulting in OKCPS students being asked to engage in the same book year after year.  The students of Oklahoma City deserve opportunities to engage in a wide variety of novels that reflect learning set forth in the Oklahoma Academic Standards.  This list is meant to provide teachers with guidance as they decide which novel is best suited for their students.  This recommended novel list alleviates the duplication of reads, creates a more equitable education, and has the capacity to grow students into robust consumers of literacy.  

The grade-level reading lists below represent possible texts your child may study in class this year as a class. Your child’s teacher will choose titles from this list; however, not every title on the list will be read. If you have concerns regarding any of the novels, please contact your child’s teacher immediately so that they can assist you in assigning your child an alternate text.  Requests for the alternate text must be received prior to the novel study and within the first three weeks of the semester. Supplemental materials such as short stories, articles, poems, speeches, frequently-used websites, etc. will be accessible on Canvas and/or distributed in class. This list does not include Literature Circle opportunities.

All texts selected align with Oklahoma State Reading Standards 2 and 3; additionally, district libraries support Standard 8.

• Standard 2: Students will read and comprehend inclusive, diverse, and increasingly complex literary and informational texts.

• Standard 3: Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate increasingly complex literary and informational texts that include a wide range of historical, cultural, ethnic, and global perspectives from a variety of genres.

• Standard 8: Students will read self-selected texts independently, choosing genres to suit and expand their personal preferences and purposes.

Middle School OKCPS Approved Whole Class Novel List

5th Grade

Fish in a Tree, The War that Saved My Life, Save Me a Seat, The One and Only Ivan, A Good Kind of Trouble, Front Desk, Other Words from Home, Frindle, Maniac Magee, Efren Divided, and Wringer

6th Grade

A Wrinkle in Time, America Street, Among the Hidden, Bud Not Buddy, Esperanza Rising, Hatchet, Holes, Love that Dog/ Hate That Cat, Monster, Number the Stars, Rosa Parks: My Story, The Ninth Ward, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, The Well, The Westing Game, Tuck Everlasting, Tulsa Burning, and Wonder 

7th Grade

Freak the Mighty, Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hoot, How I Became a Ghost, Lions of Little Rock, Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Out of my Mind, Out of the Dust, Refugee, The Call of the Wild, The Crossover, The Devil’s Arithmetic, The Lightning Thief, The Outsiders, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Walk Two Moons

8th Grade

An American Plague, Between Shades of Grey, Boots on the Ground, Brown Girl Dreaming, Chains, Dear Martin, Ender’s Game, Flowers for Algernon (abridged version from Textbook), House of Scorpion, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Prisoner B3087, Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry, Summer of My German Soldier, The Book Thief, The Boy on the Wooden Box, The Contender, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Giver, The Pearl, Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

High School OKCPS Approved Whole Class Novel List

English I

American Born Chinese, Cold Sassy Tree, Dreamland Burning, Enrique’s Journey, I Am Malala: Girl Who Stood Up For Education, Living Up the Street, Romeo and Juliet, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Boy Who Carried Bricks, The Comedy of Errors, The Freedom Writers Diary, The Hate You Give, The House on Mango Street, The Joy Luck Club, The Odyssey, The Old Man and the Sea, To Kill a Mockingbird, Under the Mesquite, Westside Story, The First Part Last.

English II

A Long Way Gone, Antigone, Bless Me Ultima, Born a Crime (YA Version), Children of Blood and Bone, Julius Caesar, Like Water for Chocolate, Lord of the Flies, Maus I, Much Ado About Nothing, Night, Persepolis, Pride, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Sold, The Color of Water, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Librarian of Auschwitz, The Little Prince. 

English III

12 Angry Men, A Raisin in the Sun, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Beloved, Black Boy, Caramelo, Cat’s Cradle, Chalenger Deep, Death of a Salesman, Fahrenheit 451, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, In Cold Blood, Into the Wild, Invisible Man, Killers of the Flower Moon, Of Mice and Men, Slaughterhouse-five, The Awakening, The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, The Crucible, The Glass Castle, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, The Martian Chronicles, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Scarlet Letter, Their Eyes were Watching God, Things They Carried, Warriors Don’t Cry.

English IV

1984, A Passage of India, A Tale of Two Cities, Americanah, Animal Farm, Anthem, Atonement, Beowulf, Brave New World, Canterbury Tales, David Copperfield, Frankenstein, Go Set a Watchman, Great Expectations, Grendel, Gulliver’s Travels, Hamlet, Heart of Darkness, Jane Eyre, Le Morte d’Arthur, Life of Pi, Little Women, Macbeth, Metamorphosis, Never Let Me Go, Othello, Paradise Lost, Pride and Prejudice, Pygmalion, The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Handmaid’s Tale, The One and Future King, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Testaments, Wuthering Heights, Things Fall Apart. 

Parents/guardians who are graduates of OKCPS, former students, supporters and current students are encouraged to become involved in the school’s alumni association. More information is available by contacting the office at each high school. 

Teachers will contact parents when they determine a student is performing unsatisfactorily. The notification must be in writing in a language the parent can read during the 4th, 5th, or 6th week of each quarter. Additional notices may be sent earlier than the 4th week of the quarter or later than the 6th week of each quarter. 

The Oklahoma City Public School District believes families and school staff are important team members for our students. Sometimes problems or misunderstandings happen, and we need to fix them. It's usually best to solve these problems where they start. If you follow these steps, most situations can be sorted out quickly and fairly.

Here are steps for parents or guardians to solve a problem:

Step 1: Talk to the School Staff Member

The easiest way to fix a problem is to talk directly to the person involved. This could be a teacher, a coach, a bus driver, or another staff member. Most problems can be solved by asking questions and explaining concerns with the person who is part of the situation.

Step 2: Talk to the Principal

The principal is in charge of the school building and makes sure it runs smoothly. You can get information about school rules, explanations, and other school details from the principal's office. If your school has assistant principals who are in charge of certain parts of the school, it might be better to talk to them before going to the main principal.

Step 3: Talk to the Right Person at the PK-12 Office

If you've already tried Step 1 and Step 2 and your problem isn't fixed, then it's time to call the district office over all the schools. You can reach the right person, like an administrator or director, by calling the PK-12 Office at (405) 587-0010. 

It is also a good idea to submit a TIPS report.  To submit a report in writing, click this link.  Call  587-STOP (7867) and an operator will complete the eport for you.  

Step 4: Talk to the Superintendent

If your problem still isn't solved after trying Steps 1 through 3, then you call the Superintendent's Office. The Superintendent is the top person in charge of the entire school district.

The Board of Education is composed of eight (8) school board members, seven of which are elected by the community within a geographic area called a ward or district and one Board Chairperson who is elected at large from the entire OKCPS school boundaries. The School Board hires and employs the Superintendent and sets policy and the annual budget, and approves expenditures and contracts. Because of the unique responsibility on the Board of Education, complaints are often redirected to Administration for resolution. The public is invited and encouraged to participate in public comment (which is limited in compliance with the Constitution and federal and state laws) at all regular board meetings.