Careertech Reveals Results of
Remediation Study

By Paula Bowles,

The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education in March presented to its board the first annual report on remediation for technology center students enrolled at Oklahoma public higher education institutions.

"Our intent in conducting this report is to determine the level of academic preparedness of technology center students who attend college," said Phil Berkenbile, director. "This is the first time we have matched records with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and we hope this will serve as a model for future reports."

Twelfth-grade and adult technology center students who were enrolled in fulltime programs in 2000-2001 and were first-time freshmen in an Oklahoma college in 2001-2002 were selected for this report in order that the methodology be the same as the State Regents' Annual Remediation Report. Comparisons of all technology center students in total and by age category, younger than 21 and 21 and older, were made with all first-time freshmen in total, by age group and by institutional tier within the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education.

"We found that the majority of technology center students who enrolled as first-time freshmen the following year attended two-year colleges," said Berkenbile. "These students had a remediation rate of 44.2 percent, which was lower than the remediation rate of all first-time freshmen students at two-year colleges, at 51.4 percent." However, the report revealed that technology center students have an overall remediation rate of 42.9 percent, compared to 38.8 percent for all students in higher education. One of the most positive findings is that technology center first time freshmen who were 21 and older needed significantly less remediation (22.6 percent) than all higher education students 21 and older (41.9 percent).

"We are very pleased to find that our adult students needed less remediation," he said. "It also is good news for the majority of technology center students who are seeking further education at two-year colleges. We will continue to work with the high schools to decrease the remediation rate of our secondary students.

"Since this is the first time we have matched data with higher education, we will continue to build upon this baseline information to improve our student preparation efforts and to monitor student transition into higher education," Berkenbile said.