Oklahoma Initiatives
#1. Focus on Readiness
Higher education and K-12 will work together to develop and implement a strategy that seeks to identify students not on target to be college-ready by graduation and will target activities in the 11th and 12th grades to reduce remediation demands in the transition from high school to college.
#2. Transform Remediation
Every Oklahoma institution will implement transformational models of remedial placement and support through a statewide, phased implementation and refinement process.
#3. Build Bridges to Certificates and Degrees
Develop and implement a "program-equivalent project" that bridges Career Tech credit to completion of college certificates and degrees at the community colleges.
#4. Reach Higher for Adult Degree Completion
Further expand and develop Reach Higher as a degree and college certificate completion effort that involves the entire system of postsecondary education.
#5. Track and Reward Progress and Completion
Reform Oklahoma’s successful Brain Gain performance funding program to provide metrics and accountability for measuring state and campus progress toward completion goals.
#1. Focus on Readiness
This entails statewide reform and redesign of remedial and developmental education through redesign projects and a common framework established by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and implemented by colleges and universities.
How: Through the Council of Presidents and Council on Instruction, the system will determine general parameters of acceptable instructional delivery, assessment and placement strategies that can guide the pilot development and inform the new policy and framework. Project framework will allow for inclusion of Complete College America consultants as well as the National Center for Academic Transformation, the Education Commission of the States, and their developmental education redesign strategies and support.
Who: OSRHE will serve as the lead agency and call for the reform project. Details will be informed by the Council of Presidents, research from OSRHE and the continual guidance from the Council on Instruction. Faculty engagement will occur in the redesign, implementation and refinement of policy framework by utilizing academic discipline teams in Oklahoma's Course Equivalency Project. These English and math teams are already mobilized on the Common Core State Standards and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) projects and will be expanded to help lead the curriculum, assessment and placement reforms. All campuses will be involved in redesign projects, with several piloting academic assessment, placement and delivery reforms.
Timetable: Inventory and baseline assessment of all remedial and developmental programs will be done in summer and fall 2011. Pilot projects on 12 campuses will be initiated in 2011-12. Policy and program redesign will occur in 2012-13.
#2. Transform Remediation
Higher education will work jointly with K-12 to develop a strategy and conduct pilot activities to reduce remediation demands in the transition from high school to college.
How: The CCA Innovation initiative will establish an "early assessment and redesigned 12th-grade math" model as a primary part of the framework for redesign models and pilot projects in Oklahoma. The CCA Leadership Team will work with K-12 leadership to understand goals of the project, establish a network of institutional and K-12 partners and work with OSRHE and ACT staff to develop communication tools around the early assessment and bridge opportunity. These partnerships will leverage Oklahoma’s existing use of the EPAS system which tests 95 percent of all eighth- and 10th-grade students. The end goal will be a meaningful bridging curriculum and interventions that make full use of the 11th-12th grade years.
Who: OSRHE, the secretary of education and the superintendent of public instruction will jointly lead a steering committee of discipline experts from common and higher education that will advise the development of these opportunities.
Timetable: Initial steering team conversations will take place at the outset of statewide remedial and developmental redesign project with pilot activities and policy development continuation through 2012-13.
#3. Build Bridges to Certificates and Degrees
Develop a "program-equivalent project" that bridges Career Tech credit hour completion to certificate and Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree completion in the community colleges.
How: The existing cooperative agreements with Career Tech will be enhanced by developing a better tracking of these existing activities and further cultivation of these critical postsecondary relationships. Oklahoma will conduct – using the outside help of CCA experts – a comprehensive inventory of quality and meaningful certificate activities in Career Tech and at the community colleges and universities. This inventory will include an audit of all certificates in higher education and Career Tech and establish their value in the workforce, bring them in line with national norms for certificates and bridge opportunities with A.A.S. programs. The audit will evaluate unneccessary duplication, identify gaps and reconcile with workforce development goals. The state educational partners will develop more intentional certificate completion options for students matriculating from Career Tech into the higher education system. The revised structure will hold the partners and students accountable for completing the certificate and provide a stronger pathway between the earned certificate and A.A.S. degrees.
Who: The overall audit of certificates will be led by the secretary of education and the education cabinet working with the CCA consultant. OSRHE will lead a discussion of policy implications involving the Council of Presidents, the Council on Instruction and Career Tech.
Timetable: The certificate audit project will begin in fall 2011 with continuation through 2011-12 and report due at end of that academic year. The work to develop more bridging opportunities for certificate completion inside of the cooperative agreement model will occur through 2012-13.
#4. Reach Higher for Adult Degree Completion
Oklahoma’s nascent adult degree completion initiative, Reach Higher, will continue to be developed as a degree and certificate completion effort that involves the entire system of postsecondary education.
How: Building upon the bachelor’s degree consortia and the recently approved associate degree options, the Reach Higher staff and campus coordinators will make a major push for reengaging adults who are in academic good standing with significant earned credits but no degree.
- Degree audits will be conducted for "missing credits" and identifying those former students closest to degree completion.
- Reach Higher staff will accelerate partnerships with business and industry to establish cohort-driven and workplace-based program delivery.
- Business engagement will also occur in the development of several new degree/certificate options that are tied to emerging workforce needs.
- Finally, the OSRHE and Reach Higher program staff and coordinators will conduct a policy audit and data-mining exercise for a reverse-transfer project that can identify students whose course sequences and earned credits already meet associate degree and certificate requirements. This will create a more systemic role for reverse-transfer options rather than relying upon individual student initiative.
Who: OSRHE, the Council on Instruction, and the university and community college Reach Higher coordinators will collaborate on the tasks.
Timetable: Following the CCA Completion Academy, much of this work was begun in anticipation of Oklahoma’s acceleration of the work under the CCA Innovation program. The tasks will continue through the 2012-13 academic year.
#5. Track and Reward Progress and Completion
OSRHE will conduct a full review and revision of the Brain Gain Performance Funding program utilizing appropriate CCA and NGA Complete to Compete outcome and progress metrics.
How: The State Regents have charged OSRHE staff to work with the Council of Presidents to develop the new Brain Gain performance funding model. During 2011-12, the Brain Gain model and the overall funding formula model for the state of Oklahoma will jointly be reviewed for reform. In addition to metrics such as degrees produced, retention rates and graduation rates, the project will examine and consider the inclusion of best practice performance standards such as successful completion of remedial and freshman gateway courses, successful matriculation of students on Pell Grants, adult degree completion and more outcomes measures.
Who: OSRHE staff and Council of Presidents will collaborate on this task.
Timetable: This work began in spring 2011 in anticipation of Oklahoma’s launch of the CCA project activities. Work will continue with the campuses and CCA’s network of advisors toward adoption of a revised Brain Gain model for use in FY 2013.
