Oklahoma CareerTech is working with Oklahoma universities and colleges to help technology center graduates get college credit for their work.
CareerTech has signed agreements with the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology and OSU-Oklahoma City to award block credit to technology center program completers who earned specific certifications.
Provosts from both universities and CareerTech State Director Brent Haken signed agreements Wednesday in a ceremony at the state CareerTech agency in Stillwater.
“It’s been exciting to work with the team at Oklahoma State,” Haken said. “Far more than words on a paper, these articulation agreements represent a true belief in the value of people and what they have chosen to make their career. Oklahoma CareerTech is helping more Oklahomans find career success while being a part of their educational journey. Partnerships like these bring real educational value that results in prosperous people.”
Connors State College, Redlands Community College, Northern Oklahoma College, Carl Albert State College, Rogers State University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University have also agreed to offer credit for tech center program completers with industry-recognized certifications, and several other colleges have shown interest in doing the same, said Bryan Hall, credentialing specialist with the Oklahoma CareerTech Testing Center.
Hall began reaching out to the universities and colleges after reading an article about Oklahoma colleges collaborating on an associate degree in applied technology.
“We were seeking to reach out and create relationships and connections with higher education to bridge the gap for our program completers who have received great training and certifications,” he said. “This is an opportunity to increase the educational aspirations of our residents and be a more educated state. That’s going to help attract businesses and also help workers increase their pay and status.”
Oklahoma CareerTech and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education at one time had agreements in place through the Cooperative Alliance Program to allow high school students to earn college credit toward science degrees by completing some courses at technology centers. The program allowed individual colleges and tech centers to sign cooperative agreements.
In 2020, Tulsa Community College piloted a program to offer an associate in applied science degree in applied technology for adults who had received industry-recognized credentials. A year later, Hall said, 10 more colleges wanted to do the same.
“That says to me there’s an appetite out there for CareerTech trained and certified students,” he said.
He proposed a statewide program that would include all tech centers and any college that chose to participate.
The articulation agreements create a standardized process to award credit for an associate of applied science in applied technology degree, Hall said. Students who complete CareerTech programs and have earned industry credentials in those programs will be able to receive credits after they are accepted into the university program.
Since the college and university programs are online, he added, more students will be able to participate.
“It doesn’t matter what CareerTech you come from, if you’re bringing this credential and full-time program completion, you can receive block credit toward an AAS degree,” he said.
The agreements benefit students, CareerTech, the colleges and universities and the state, Hall said, because they support students earning credentials and degrees that will help their careers; they strengthen institutional collaboration; they ensure consistency in programs; and they help provide well-educated and well-trained employees for Oklahoma business and industry.
A 2014 report from the Education Commission of the States, an organization that helps states work together in education and learn from each other, showed that students who earn college credit through technology center courses are more likely to earn high school diplomas, enroll in bachelor’s degree programs and enroll in college full-time.
Oklahoma CareerTech: Oklahoma’s Workforce Leader
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 63 campuses, 394 PK-12 school districts, 20 skills centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 49 adult education and family literacy providers.
The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.
