Bursar's Office
OSRHE Policy
POLICY OF REMEDIATION OF HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULAR DEFICIENCIES (OSRHE Policy, 6/96)
I. INTRODUCTION
The State Regents' admission policy lists 11 high school
curricular requirements for programs leading to an Associate in
Arts, Associate in Sciences and a Baccalaureate Degree.
(Effective fall 1997, there will be a 15 unit high school
curricular requirement.) As defined in the policy, students must
meet all curricular requirements to be admitted to the
comprehensive or regional universities. The only exceptions are
noted in I.C. Special Admissions and summer term enrollment
prior to the regular semester of desired entry. The policy
requires institutions admitting students with one or more
curricular deficiencies in the special admission categories to
provide the means to satisfy those deficiencies. Students must
successfully remediate basic skills course requirements within
the first 24 hours attempted or have all subsequent enrollments
restricted to deficiency removal courses until the deficiencies
are removed.1 Students lacking curricular requirements are
admissable into Associate of Science or Associate of Arts
programs but must remove the basic skills deficiencies at the
earliest possible time but within the first 24 hours attempted
or have all subsequent enrollments restricted to deficiency
removal courses until the deficiencies are removed. Finally,
students must remove curricular deficiencies in a discipline
area before taking collegiate level work in that discipline.
The high school curricular admission requirements were adopted
by the State Regents to help ensure adequate high school
academic preparation. Such preparation is the first step toward
maximizing student success. It is the expectation of the State
Regents that students applying for college entry will have
successfully completed, at a minimum, the required high school
course work. Indeed, research indicates that the academic
preparation a student receives in high school correlates with
success in college. Specifically, students who take more high
school core subjects generally score higher on the ACT and earn
better grades in college than students who take a minimal number
of core courses. High school students should consider the
prescribed 11 unit high school core curriculum (15 units in the
fall, 1997) a minimum standard. Students are encouraged to take
additional core courses.
The adoption of this policy reaffirms the State Regents'
commitment to adequate student academic preparation, and the
State Regents' goal that students achieve such preparation prior
to applying for college entry.
This policy specifies how students who lack the high school
curricular requirements may satisfy them within The Oklahoma
State System of Higher Education. Nonfulfillment of high school
requirements is referred to in this policy as curricular
deficiencies.
II. PRINCIPLES
The high school curricular requirements were established to
maximize student success by ensuring, as much as possible, that
students entering the comprehensive and regional universities
are prepared for college level work through adequate high school
academic preparation. Inevitably, however, some students will
lack these requirements upon entering Oklahoma colleges and
universities; others will have taken the required courses but
will remain unskilled in the disciplines. The following
principles are the foundation for this policy.
A. Certain disciplines, most notably mathematics, English, and
science, build on requisite knowledge. College courses in such
disciplines assume a student knowledge base gained in high
school or other previous academic experiences. It is therefore
imperative that students not enter collegiate courses in these
fields lacking that knowledge.
B. History and other guided elective courses build on reading
and writing skills. Students should not enroll in collegiate
courses in history or other guided elective courses without a
necessary foundation in those skills relevant to the discipline.
C. Students who can demonstrate competency in an academic field
even though they did not take the required course(s) in high
school will have the curricular deficiency waived for purposes
of remediation. Such students will be allowed to enter the
respective discipline's collegiate courses.
D. Students with unwaived deficiencies will be required to have
educational experiences that will enable them to develop those
skills requisite to success at the college level.
E. Within the State System, the community college tier is
officially designated as responsible for the
remedial/developmental education function. While institutions in
other tiers, with the exception of regional universities with
assigned community college functions, do not have this
remedial/development responsibility, such schools may offer
remedial courses if fully supported through student fees.
III. STUDENT DEMONSTRATION OF CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES15
A. Systemwide Procedures
Student competency may be demonstrated and deficiencies removed
in the nine required units of basic skills courses - science,
English, and mathematics - through the use of system ACT
subscores in the three subject areas of science reasoning,
English, and mathematics respectively.16 Institutions may,
within their approved assessment plans, establish higher
standards by requiring additional testing of those students
meeting or exceeding the minimum ACT subject test score
requirement.
B. Institutional Procedures17
1. Student competencies may be demonstrated and deficiencies
removed by an entry-level, institutionally developed or adopted
assessment procedure in the appropriate discipline area
consistent with the institution's approved assessment plan. Such
an assessment procedure/instrument must be uniformly applied,
have demonstrated content validity, and be a reliable measure of
student competence. Students would be required to score at a
level which equates to the system wide ACT score requirements
for the basic skills subjects.
IV. READING COMPETENCY
To successfully complete college courses, students must be able
to read at a minimum level. While high school reading courses
are not specifically required, student reading competency is
expected and assessed. Refer to the Policy Statement on the
Assessment of Students for Purposes of Instructional Improvement
and State System Accountability for the State Regents'
assessment requirements in the area of reading.
V. STUDENT REMEDIATION OF CURRICULAR DEFICIENCIES IN BASIC
SKILLS COURSES
Students with curricular deficiencies who fail to demonstrate
adequate curricular competence will be required to complete
developmental courses as described below:
Students with mathematics, English, or science deficiencies will
be required to enroll in developmental courses designed to
remedy the deficiency. Students must receive a grade equivalent
to a "C" or better to remove the deficiency.
VI. STUDENT PROCEDURES FOR REMOVAL OF CURRICULAR DEFICIENCIES IN
HISTORY AND THE FOUR GUIDED ELECTIVE COURSES18
Students with a deficiency in history who present an ACT reading
subscore at or above the specified level4 or who score at the
designated level on any approved secondary institutional reading
assessment instrument may be admitted as regular admission
students. These students will be required to complete an
additional three-hour collegiate history course to make up the
high school deficiency.
Students with a guided elective deficiency may also be admitted
as regular admission students as specified in the Policy
Statement on Admission To, Retention In, and Transfer Among
Colleges and Universities in the State System, but will be
required to take an additional three-hour collegiate course in
the guided elective subject area(s).
Policy on Remediation of High School Curricular Deficiencies
subject to change by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher
Edcucation.
--
ORIENTATION
Every student should have a current copy of each of the
following University publications: the Catalog, the ECU Student
Handbook and the Schedule. The Student Handbook contains the
East Central University Student Code of Conduct. Copies of the
Handbook are available in the Student Services Office, 102
Administration Building. Since the --Catalog explains the
operation of and gives the rules of the University, the student
will refer to it often. Usually a student follows the degree
plan as stated in the catalog effective at East Central
University at the beginning of his or her continuous enrollment.
A continuous enrollment shall mean assignment of an East Central
University grade on the permanent record of at least one
semester hour, semester after semester—excluding summer—until
graduation. Additional rules to the above policies are:
a. If the student leaves East Central University and returns
during a later term, continuous enrollment at any accredited
institution will also be acceptable.
b. If general education requirements are completed under an East
Central Catalog at the time of the student's enrollment, the new
general education requirements need not be met.
c. If the student is in attendance at East Central University
when changes are made in the requirements for three components,
the general education program and/or the major and/or the minor
program of studies, he or she may follow the requirements of
either component in effect at his or her first enrollment or he
or she may choose to follow the requirements of any successive
catalog provided that he or she is in continuous enrollment.
d. If a student is suspended by the University for academic
reasons, then he or she may return under the original catalog
within a year.
e. In cases not covered by the above rules, the Vice President
for Academic Affairs, in consultation with the student, will
determine which catalog will be in effect for that student's
graduation.
Any changes imposed by law or policies by governing regulatory
boards or agencies become effective at the date specified
regardless of continuous enrollment or provision stated above.
East Central University would in no case be obligated to offer
courses only in order for a student to meet degree requirements
under a previous catalog. The --Schedule, published anew each
--term (a semester or a summer session), gives vital information
about the current term.
A student familiar with the common practice of an --Institution
(any institution of higher learning) may become familiar with
East Central by reading this chapter and by referring to other
parts of the Catalog, and to the Schedule. Additional help in
becoming familiar with the University is given at the Freshman
Enrollment Session to --beginning freshmen (students who have
never registered at an institution). Shortly before
registration, the Freshman Orientation Session occurs at a time
indicated in the Schedule. All beginning freshmen will be
required to successfully complete --UNIV 1001 Freshman Seminar
in their first term of enrollment.
East Central has four -undergraduate schools and a School of
Graduate Studies. The undergraduate schools are as follows: the
School of Business; the School of Education and Psychology; the
School of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the School of
Mathematics and Sciences. The rules and procedures of the School
of Graduate Studies are given in the section of the Catalog
labeled the same.
The undergraduate schools are made up of --departments (for
example, the Art Department and the Biology Department), which
offer courses in their own academic fields (for example, art and
biology). Taking (earning a course grade in) a course and
earning credit are commonly called "-work" (-academic work). A
lecture -course ordinarily meets a certain number of clock hours
each week throughout a semester. When a student makes a passing
grade in a course meeting one clock hour a week throughout a
semester, he or she normally earns one --semester hour (commonly
called "-hour") of -credit. A one semester-hour course offered
in a summer session (also known as term) meets on a different
schedule but for the same total number of clock hours as a one
semester-hour course offered in a regular --semester (a fall or
a spring semester). A --class- period of one clock hour is sixty
minutes long, including time for transition from one class to
another. Laboratory courses and others sometimes meet for clock
hours different from the semester hours of credit they yield.
A student accumulates semester hours of credit to change his or
her --class level (or --classification — from freshman to
sophomore and so forth), to earn a degree, and for various
professional and personal reasons. Some semester hours are in a
--major (a field of intense specialization); others are in a
--minor (a field of less intense specialization). Some are in
--required courses (specific courses a student must take, which
apply toward his or her degree); others are in -elective courses
(courses he or she chooses to take to apply toward his or her
degree). Some may be taken as --off-campus (as correspondence or
transfer courses, for example); some must be taken as
--on-campus ("resident" or on the East Central campus) courses.
A student is a --freshman if he or she has earned 0-29 semester
hours, a --sophomore if he or she has earned 30-59 semester
hours, a --junior if he or she has earned 60-89 semester hours,
or a --senior if he or she has earned 90 or more semester hours.
A --post-graduate student earns only undergraduate credit—not
graduate—although he or she has already earned a bachelor's
degree. A --graduate student is a student who holds at least a
bachelor's degree and earns graduate credit.
During his or her --lower-division years (the freshman and
sophomore years), a student takes several courses in --general
education (courses which give the broad background required of
university graduates) and decides upon a major and a minor.
During his or her --upper-division years (the junior and senior
years), a student usually takes a greater number of courses in
his or her major and minor.
A student plans his or her --course load (the courses taken in a
term) with the help of an --advisor (an instructor assigned to
help the student and to approve his or her plans).
The course load advances the student toward the completion of
his or her --program (a group of courses and requirements
leading to a degree, a certificate, a teacher's
certificate—whatever goals the student has).
Each student is fully responsible for meeting the requirements
of the University. He or she must plan his or her own course
load to suit his or her own program and goals. The student
should consult the assigned advisor at appropriate times for
help with and approval of his or her plans. To aid in the
planning process, at the end of each semester the Registry
Office notifies the student of the grades and hours he or she
has earned. When he or she becomes a junior, the Registry will
prepare an --official degree requirement check sheet at the
student's request.
