Developmental Education – Oklahoma High School Indicators Project
Participation in Developmental Education for Oklahoma High School Graduates in Oklahoma Public Higher Education
Developmental Education Rate Tables
Information on the 2014 public high school graduates can be viewed by clicking on the following link: 2014 Developmental Education Rates (XLSX, 120k).
Additional high school graduate years can be viewed by selecting the appropriate links provided on the Oklahoma State Regents’ website.
Background
In Senate Bill No. 183 from the 1989 legislative session, Section 13 set up a program designed to evaluate the performance of individual schools and school districts in the state of Oklahoma. This program not only required multiple types of evaluation by the State Department of Education, but also required that the individual schools and districts be notified of these evaluations, and that the general public also be advised as to the “effectiveness” of individual schools or districts. In response to the directive of SB 183, the State Regents provide the following four reports: (1) High School to College-Going Rates for Oklahoma High School Graduates to Oklahoma Colleges; (2) Headcount, Semester Hours, and GPA Report; (3) Mean ACT Scores by Oklahoma High School Site; and (4) Developmental Education (Remediation) Rates for Oklahoma High School Graduates in Oklahoma Public Higher Education (beginning in 1995). In compliance with Senate Bill No. 183, the State Regents will transmit these data to the Office of Accountability.Student developmental education participation activity is also reported in the Annual Developmental Education Report, which differs from developmental Education participation rates presented as part of the High School Indicators Project. The focus of the Annual Student Developmental Education Report is on all developmental education activity occurring at the colleges and universities. Data presented as part of this High School Indicators Project includes only students who graduated from Oklahoma public high schools in the prior year. Although graduates from Oklahoma high schools account for most of the freshmen in the State System, there will be some differences between the numbers in each report.
Analysis
The present data represent a summary of developmental education (remediation) for 2014 Oklahoma public high school graduates who entered an Oklahoma public college or university as first-time entering freshmen in fall 2014. The tables identify developmental education activity of students who took one or more developmental courses during their first year in college. Listed are the freshman student headcount and percentage for each of the four subject areas of developmental courses: science, English, mathematics, and reading. An unduplicated headcount and percentage are also provided for all remedial students, including those who could have developmental education in more than one subject area.Of the fall 2014 first-time freshmen (16,796), 40.1% (6,734) enrolled in one or more developmental courses. The unduplicated percentage increased since first being reported for fall 1996 first-time freshmen (37.3) but decreased 2.4 points from its high point in 2011-12 (42.5). The rate increased one percentage point compared to last year (39.1). Rates for developmental English (15.7) and science (1.1) decreased from last year by 0.2 and 0.3 points, respectively, while the developmental math and reading rates increased 0.7 and 0.1 points, respectively.
Although trends are shown above, comparisons between years may be limited due to changes in methodology between years. (See methodology section below.)
Methodology
The data used to construct this summary come from two sources, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (SDE) and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Beginning with the 2013 high school graduates, the SDE provides information on individual students from Oklahoma’s public high schools. These students are then tracked into the State Regents’ Unitized Data System (UDS) to determine which students entered college the following fall. This represents the cohort for whom we examine developmental education participation. Courses taken throughout the freshman academic year are then examined to determine remediation rates.
Students who took more than one remedial course in a subject area were counted only once in that subject. Students who took a remedial course in more than one subject area were counted once in each subject area. For the total unduplicated count, students were counted only once although they could have taken more than one remedial course.
For high schools with five or fewer students, the freshman headcount has been entered, but no additional information has been provided in order to comply with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Several changes to the methodology of this report have occurred over time. Beginning in 2008, changes in reporting requirements to federal and regional entities necessitated updates to the State Regents’ UDS. In 2011-12, a more refined way of identifying developmental courses was introduced. Finally, in 2013-14, the SDE began providing more detailed information that allowed State Regents’ staff to track public high school graduates individually into their fall semester in college. (However, the 2013 high school graduate data from SDE were incomplete, since the information was based only on a list of students who graduated within four years.) Prior to the 2013 report, the number of students entering college directly from high school was estimated using first-time-entering college students who were 17, 18 and 19 years of age.For more information on remediation rates, contact Kathy Spengler at 405.225.9100 or kspengler@osrhe.edu.