OKLAHOMA

State Director-Francis T. Tuttle

INTRODUCTION

The state of Oklahoma has had a 65-percent increase in its vocational enrollment over the past 10 years. In 1963, the majority of enrollment in the State was in agriculture and home economics. Since that time, all occupational areas have expanded. A breakdown of the enrollments for the years 1963, 1968, and 1972 and the projected 1977 enrollment is contained in table 1.

PUBLIC LAW 90-576 "PART B"-STATE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

PROGRAMS

a. Job Training Enrollments

Table 2-A presents a breakdown of the enrollments for fiscal years 1963, 1968, 1972, and 1977 for high school, post high school, and adult.

b. General Description

All occupational areas in the State of Oklahoma have been expanded since 1963. The area receiving the greatest emphasis has been the health field. In this area all programs have been expanded but emphasis has been placed on associate degree nursing, licensed practical nursing, medical technician programs and other programs in the health field that require needed manpower. The second area that has had the greatest enrollment increase is trade and industrial education. The construction trades cluster containing carpentry, masonry, electrification, and air-conditioning and refrigeration has had the greatest increase. Also, the mechanical cluster, heavy equipment and welding have been areas which have received emphasis in the State of Oklahoma. In the technical education field, the electromechanical area is an area where programs have been expanded. Emphasis has also been placed in the office occupational and all programs in the office occupations area have been expanded. The State department of vocational and technical education has a special schools division which trains persons for new and emerging industries coming into the State of Oklahoma. This special schools section is responsible for taking care of any immediate manpower needs of new industry or any emerging technologies. This program trains persons for immediate employment and the traditional training programs that we have in this State are then expanded to take care of the replacement needs for these industries coming to Oklahoma. This has been a contributing factor to the industrial development of the State.

c. Post Secondary Courses

Table 2-C contains a breakdown of the post secondary enrollment by junior and community college, technical institutes, area vocational schools, and other post secondary institutions.

d. Disadvantaged Students

In 1963, there were no organized programs for the disadvantaged population in the State of Oklahoma. Since the 1963 Vocational Education Act and the 1968 Vocational Education Amendments, emphasis has been placed on designing programs to take care of persons who were not able to succeed in regular programs of vocational and technical education. Programs have been initiated to satisfy the requirements for persons needing specially designed education that are economically, educationally, or culturally disadvantaged. Table 2-E is a breakdown of the disadvantaged enrollments for the years requested.

e. Handicapped Students

Specially designed programs for the handicapped population in the State have also received emphasis since the 1968 Vocational Education Amendments. Previous to that time there was no regularly designed vocational program to take care of this population. Progress has been made in programs for the handicapped students and increased emphasis will be given in the coming years in order to try to meet the needs of this particular section of our population. f. Adults

Table 2-F is a breakdown of the adult enrollments for the State. Approximately 48 percent of the enrollment in the State of Oklahoma in adult education is persons in preparatory training preparing for a new job. A study conducted by the State department of Vocational and technical education with business, industry, and government services in the State indicated that 148,340 persons needed some kind of upgrade training by the state department annually. This leaves 136,526 individuals annually needing training that is not being met by vocational and technical education training programs in the State. In 1963, very little training was conducted in the manpower program. In 1968 approximately 18 percent of the adults trained were in the MDTA training program. In 1972, approximately 16 percent of the training of adult preparatory courses was conducted by MDTA. It is projected that in 1977 that approximately 15 percent of the training for adult preparatory will be conducted by the MDTA program area. A breakdown of the enrollment for both the adult preparatory, supplementary, and manpower training is contained in table 2-F.

g. Financing

(i) Allocation of Federal funds to local education agencies gives consideration to the following maintenance of effort requirements. Federal funds made available under part B of the act will not supplant State or local funds, but will be so used as to supplement to the extent that it will increase the amount of State and local funds that would in the absence of such Federal funds be made available for the purposes set forth in section 122-(a) of the act, so that all

persons in all communities of the State will, as soon as possible have ready access to vocational education suited to their needs, interests, and abilities to benefit therefrom. No payments of Federal funds of the act will be made in any fiscal year to any local education agency unless the State board finds that the combined physical effort of that agency of the State with respect to the provisions of vocational education of that agency for the proceeding fiscal year was no less than such combined physical effort for that purpose for the second proceeding fiscal year. Any such reduction in combined physical effort for any fiscal year by more than 5 percent will disqualify a local educational agency unless the local educational agency is able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the State board that such a reduction was occasioned by unusual circumstances that could not have been fully anticipated or reasonably compensated for by the local education agency and that the physical effort of the local education agency does not otherwise indicate a diminished physical effort. Consideration will be given to the tax effort requirements specified in the allocation of Federal funds to a local education agency and no local education agency which is making a reasonable tax effort will be denied funds for establishing new vocational education programs solely because it is unable to pay the non-Federal share of the cost of such programs.

The tax effort of a local education agency shall be represented by the ratio between the total annual local tax revenues available to the agency for educational purposes and the total wealth of the local area or communities served by the agencies. In computing local tax effort, the State board may measure local revenues and local wealth by whatever means it considers fair and equitable to all local educational agencies in the State. In local education agencies, tax efforts shall be considered reasonable whenever they are equal to or greater than the average local tax effort in the State.

The States' use of variable matching of local funds for Federal funds is as follows: 50 percent of the State and local expenditures for State vocational education programs under part B of the act except that the Federal shares shall be 100 percent for programs for the disadvantaged in areas of high concentration of youth unemployment and school dropouts under part B of the act and finance of funds under section 102 (b) of the act.

(ii) The State department of vocational and technical education funds programs in 435 independent districts in the State of Oklahoma. There does not exist enough State and Federal funds to fund programs of vocational education on an equitable level with the population. Another factor affecting the funds going to a city is the philosophy of the administration in that school system. The decision for establishing local programs of vocational education is left to the local administration with direction and leadership being provided by the State department of vocational and technical education.

See table 2-G(ii) for a breakdown of expenditures and popula

tions.

h. Construction and Equipment

The State of Oklahoma has constructed and equipped 19 area vocational and technical schools since 1963. It is projected that continuous effort will be made in completing a statewide system of area

vocational and technical training centers for the State of Oklahoma. Table 2-H gives a breakdown of the amount of funds used for construction and equipment since 1963 and the projected amount needed for the period 1973 through 1977.

PUBLIC LAW 90-576-OTHER FEDERAL PROGRAMS

a. Exemplary Programs and Projects

Several exemplary programs have been conducted by the State department of vocational and technical education. Most of these programs have been in the area of innovations in vocational educational education or in the career exploration phases of vocational_and technical education. A 3-year program was conducted in the Tulsa public school system to give the fith and sixth grades an orientation to the world of work and to occupational education. A project is currently being conducted in the Oklahoma City public school system to work with the middle schools in order to create an awareness of vocational education in the students and the administration and to explore occupations that will enable the student to make a wise choice in selecting a career and to train for that career while enrolled in the school system. Table 3-A contains a breakdown of the exemplary programs for 1968, 1972, and 1977.

b. Residential Vocational Education

The long-range plan for occupational education in the State of Oklahoma indicates that there is a need for one additional residential vocational education school. The State currently has one residential vocational education school that serves approximately 3,000 students. An additional school would give the State of Oklahoma the mechanism necessary for serving the population of the State.

c. Consumer and Homemaking

Consumer and homemaking education has continued to fulfill a need for the residents of the State. Historically in the State, 42 counties have been designated as economically depressed. A majority of the consumer and homemaking programs are in the economically depressed area. Currently the total State of Oklahoma has been designated as a depressed area. Not only has the consumer and homemaking education effort been towards directing the program for family life, but it has also been designed to meet the dual role of occupational readiness for employment in the home economics employment field. However, emphasis has been given to the gainful home economics programs under part B. Programs have been implemented in this area to fulfill the need in manpower areas that employ graduates of home economics programs. This manpower training area continues to show an increase in the amount of persons needed in the home economics employment area. Table 3-C gives a breakdown of both the consumer and homemaking programs and the gainful home economics programs for the State of Oklahoma.

d. Cooperative Vocational Education

CVE Part G has been a small part of the total cooperative education effort in the State. Continued emphasis and acceptance of coop

erative vocational education is being made in the State. The cooperative training approach proves to be one of the more successful training approaches for students in order that they may enter employment. It is felt that this is one of the best training mechanisms available to occupational education. Table 3-B contains a breakdown of the cooperative vocational education enrollment in the State.

e. Work-Study Programs

Many students are receiving assistance in the work-study effort who otherwise would not be able to enroll in occupational education and receive the training necessary to gain employment. Table 3-E gives the enrollment in the work-study programs for the periods 1968, 1972, and 1977.

f. Research and Training

The funds received under part C of the act for research and development in the State have perhaps proven to be one of the most important contributions that has been made to the State department of vocational and technical education in Oklahoma.

The use of part C funds from the act has allowed the State department of vocational and technical education to establish a management information system which includes the occupational training information system (OTIS) as a subpart and the individual student accounting system as another subpart. The use of these two subparts has allowed the State department of vocational and technical education to be effective in planning their occupational programs in order to meet the manpower requirements for the State and the individual needs of students. Another effort that has been accomplished by use of part C funds is the evaluation of vocational and technical education programs in the State. Every program of vocational and technical education will receive a comprehensive evaluation every 5 years. This evaluation effort should help to identify those processes that programs receiving a high evaluation are using to conduct quality occupational training. These processes identified can then be used to make recommendations to other vocational and technical education programs in order to improve the quality of training being conducted by the educational agencies. Many other small research projects have been conducted which have proven to be very beneficial in the improvement of vocational and technical education in the State.

ADVISORY COUNCILS

The State advisory council has been very complimentary to the vocational and technical education effort in the State of Oklahoma. The major recommendations made by the State advisory council have been in the areas of proficiency rating, vocational graduate followup study, teacher supply and demand, teacher training in adult education, and training of guidance and counseling personnel. The State department of vocational and technical education has accepted the recommendations made by the State advisory council and used their recommendations to improve occupational education in the State. Emphasis is currently being given to performance objectives.