Oklahoma

Abstract

Reform has played a prominent role in education in Oklahoma, leading to the development of multiple initiatives aimed to increase access and success in higher education. Yet, despite this commitment to raise the standards of learning, assess the readiness of precollegiate students, and hold schools accountable for these increased expectations, nearly half of all first-time freshmen were identified as needing developmental education. The consistency of underpreparation among Oklahomans prompted system and college administrators and faculty to raise critical questions about the decades of reform and reconsider how closer alignment with their feeder institutions, greater collaboration between systems, and increased support may yield a decreased need for developmental education on the front end and improved education attainment on the back end.