Board Expands College Credit Opportunities

By Paula Bowles
Oklahoma Department of CareerTech

The Oklahoma State Board of Career and Technology Education has approved additional Cooperative Alliances Agreements and the State Regents for Higher Education recently added four more. This expands the number of technology centers participating in the statewide initiative to include 22 of Oklahoma’s 29 technology centers.

At the May meetings of both state boards, two more Alliances will be recommended. They are High Plains Technology Center, Woodward and Northwest Technology Center, Alva and Fairview with Northern Oklahoma College in Alva.

These Alliances create a more student-centered collaboration between the technology centers and higher education institutions for adults and qualified high school or home-schooled students. College credit is granted for technical courses at partnering technology centers that lead to an Associate in Applied Science degree or certificate. 

This new model creates voluntary partnerships between a higher education institution and a technology center that align academic, business and administrative practices for postsecondary educational purposes. Partners create a relationship and develop a business plan with operational procedures.

“This initiative supports not only our CareerTech mission, but the Governor’s economic and workforce efforts which places a high priority on supporting a highly educated workforce,” said Phil Berkenbile, director of the State Department of Career and Technology Education.

High school students must score at least 19 on the ACT or a 15 on the ACT PLAN test in the 10th grade or have a minimum 2.5 grade point average to be admitted to an AAS program. They must also provide a letter of support from a high school counselor and written permission from a parent or legal guardian.

Since 1988 colleges have been awarding college credit to technology center students through cooperative agreements. The primary purpose of cooperative agreements is to expand student access to Oklahoma’s educational opportunities, share resources to eliminate duplication and strengthen education and training programs that lead to employment in occupational and technical fields.

The cooperative agreements tend to be institution-centered and based on individual agreements between one higher education institution and one technology center for one specific associate in applied science program. There are limitations with the cooperative agreements, however.

The Cooperative Alliance model eliminates some limitations to better serve more students. In the Alliance model, high school students immediately receive college credit rather than banking credit and technical courses will transfer statewide. Students also will have more than three years to claim college credit for courses. 

Goals of this model are to increase the number of high school students going to college, increase the number of adults continuing or beginning college, expand access to college and efficiently use federal, state and local resources.

“Using this new model, we hope to increase access to technical-level college programs for more high school and adult students in Oklahoma,” said Berkenbile. 

Cooperative Alliance Agreements
May 1, 2006

*Download doc file of list here