For the seventh consecutive year, the Bartlesville Public School District has been named a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished District for its outstanding STEM program at every district school. All six of the district’s elementary schools, both of its middle schools, and its high school each earned Distinguished School status for 2025-26. Bartlesville is one of just 23 districts across the U.S. to receive this honor, and the only district with that status in Oklahoma.
PLTW is a nonprofit organization that provides STEM curricula to millions of PreK-12 students and teachers in schools across the nation. Bartlesville Public Schools offers PLTW Launch (K-5), PLTW Gateway (6-8), and PLTW Computer Science and Engineering courses at Bartlesville High School.
This is the seventh year the district’s six elementary schools could qualify as Distinguished Schools, which required that at least two STEM modules be offered at each grade level with 75% or higher participation in the prior year. Only 12 other elementary schools in the state received that recognition for 2025-26.
This was the ninth consecutive year that both Central and Madison middle schools were named Distinguished Schools. That recognition requires that Gateway to Technology units be offered at each grade level, that at least 50% of the student body participates, and at least 25% of the students advancing to high school participate in two or more units while in middle school. There are no other middle schools in the state which received that recognition for 2025-26.
This is the eighth consecutive year that Bartlesville High School’s Computer Science and Engineering programs earned Distinguished School status. The high school had to provide at least three high school courses in the pathways, have at least 25% of students participate or have 33% of participating students take two or more PLTW courses, and have 95% of PLTW students complete End-of-Course assessments.
Through PLTW programs, students develop in-demand knowledge and skills that they will use both in school and for the rest of their lives, on any career path they take. As PLTW students progress through grades PreK-12, they are empowered to engage in problem-solving and process thinking, develop technical knowledge and skills, build communication skills, and explore career opportunities. Bartlesville offers complete computer science and engineering pathways from kindergarten through 12th grade.