12.21.2012

Looking Back - 2012

It seems that every blog does a look back at their most popular postings of the year. I have done it before and I am finding myself doing it again.

So, looking back at 2012, here are the most popular posts of 2012......and the winner is.......

Oklahoma Programs of Study Summit

I find it interesting that the most popular post is one of the most recent. Though I hope that is an indication that we are continuing to gain momentum as we push forward with Rigorous Programs of Study in Oklahoma. 

The second most popular post was about the BSA's NOVA requirements being released and the third was an announcement that the NTHS Endowed Scholarship Program has been established.

During 2012, 54 post (not counting this one) of over 460 have been made.It has continued to be my pleasure to share with you about career and technical education and I hope you may have learned one or two things from our conversations.

I hope you had a great 2012 and that 2013 is even better. Thank you for reading the Oklahoma CTE blog.

12.12.2012

Online Applications

Back in 2009 I wrote a marketing tip  wrote about the need to have a prominent Apply Now button on your website. Back then I do not know of anyone that had a true online application (a pdf is not an online application) and slowly some technology centers are starting to add the application.


Today, via Twitter, I was notified that Gordon Cooper Technology Center now has an online application!

This is great news as we work to make CTE more accessible and easier to enroll in for students. Looking at their website there is not an Apply Now link, yet.

Getting an online application up and operational is something to be excited about and something worth sharing. Great job!

12.10.2012

ODCTE Leadership Academy

For the past several months 20 of my fellow co-workers and I have been involved in the ODCTE Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy was developed to enhance the skills of those interested in agency supervisory leadership positions and Class II will last from October to April. One of the most exciting parts of the academy is that it includes numerous opportunities to learn about our vast system.

Our first class focused on building teams and relationships. Many of us knew each other so the traditional forming, storming, norming and performing stages of group dynamics did not really take place. We almost went straight to performing! During our sessions we learned about work style differences, group dynamics and managing change.The session was good and it included a colors assessment. (I am green, orange, gold, blue.)  It was interesting to see the different personalities and begin to understand more about how they interact together.

The second session concentrated on our delivery arms. We toured the Skills Center at Lexington Correctional Facility, Moore-Norman Technology Center and we visited with Norman Public Schools at the middle school and high school. An opportunity to see what happens inside our Skills Centers should not be passed up and it is amazing what the instructors do to help students become successful when they have served their time. The link between technology center and secondary education is great to see first hand and it is impressive to see what students in the middle schools are able to do in the STEM areas with some of our programs.

Our most recent session covered effective meeting and presentation skills. We had the opportunity to learn from Rhett Laubach, a CareerTech product who now trains others on how to be effective leaders. Rhett shared many of the notes from our two-day session on the Authenticity Rules Blog in a Big List of Tips.
I am excited to use some of the tips that we learned, escpecially about adopting the DRI, or direct responsible individual, when meeting with others.

The academy so far has been great. We have had the opportunity to learn a lot of new information that we will be able to use in future leadership positions. Our future sessions include opportunities to lean how the legislative process works, about our state board, coaching, communications, marketing and more.

I look forward to sharing more as we move forward.











12.07.2012

Oklahoma Programs of Study Summit

SAVE THE DATE - On Feb 27, 2013, ODCTE will host the Oklahoma Programs of Study Summit.

The event is intended to support schools in improving the quality of career and technical education (CTE) instruction provided to secondary and post secondary students. The event will specifically support secondary, technical and post secondary schools in addressing barriers as they move from Programs of Study to Rigourous Programs of Study.

Currently, the Perkins legislation requires that institutions who receive Perkins funds deliver content through Programs of Study. Indications are that under the next version of Perkins, Programs of Study will play an even larger role.This event is designed to begin educating Perkins LEA's about how these changes will affect them.

Participants will hear about Oklahoma's participation in the National Programs of Study Institute. During the morning the nine participants from the Oklahoma Programs of Study Institute will present real world, concrete examples of how they are working to improves RPOS in their institutions.  Participants will leave with a beginning understanding of what Rigorous Programs of Study are and how to assess the current level of implementation of RPOS at their institution.

The event will take place at the South Penn Campus of Moore Norman Technology Center. Invitiations will be emailed to Perkins contacts and registration will be free. It is tentativley set to begin with registration at 8:30am and conclude at 12:30pm.

For more information on Oklahoma's Programs of Study, visit our webpage.

12.06.2012

Ok Programs of Study Institute - Session II

In November we held the second session of the Oklahoma Programs of Study Institute. Earlier, we held conference calls and the first session leading up to our final session.

During the second session it was exciting to watch the presentations of the participants projects. These projects encompassed the 10 components of the RPOS framework and described how they were going to make changes, within the context of RPOS, at their institutions.

We gave general guidance as to the scope of the individual projects and what happened is what we hoped would happen. Each institution presented on a project that was tailored to their specific needs and when all nine projects were presented we had covered all 10 pieces of the framework!

Why is this important? It was our goal out of the institute to develop concrete, real world examples that Perkins LEA's could use as they move their institution from POS to RPOS. We wanted to show how Rigorous Programs of Study relate to the real world and that is what we accomplished.

The rest of the time was spent planning out the Oklahoma Programs of Study Summit on Feb 27. The summit will be held at Moore Norman Technology Center and the South Penn Campus. Watch this blog and the Carl Perkins blog for details on this exciting event.

Watch this blog as we begin to share some of the projects and how they relate to RPOS. You will have to come to the summit to get more details, but we will share some teasers with you!

12.05.2012

Federal Financial Aid and the Cooperative Alliance Program




Federal financial aid is limited and contingent on some complex rules and regulations.  There are at least three areas of primary concern for students enrolling in cooperative agreement programs.

  1. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
  2. Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU)
  3. Aggregate Loan Limits and new legislation limiting subsidized student loan eligibility (150% of published length of program)

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

Each post-secondary institution that is eligible to disburse Title IV funds must create and follow a satisfactory academic progress policy for all students receiving Title IV financial aid.  It has two components: a qualitative measure (usually based on GPA) and a quantitative measure (usually based on number of hours attempted compared to successfully completed hours).  Students must also complete their program within about 150% of the allowable time frame (usually measured in hours attempted).  In other words, a student must complete an associate degree program that requires 62 credit hours by the time the student has attempted 93 credit hours; a bachelor’s program requiring 124 hours must be completed within 186 hours attempted.  At many schools all college credit hours taken anywhere (including unsuccessful hours of any type) are counted whether or not financial aid was received.  Monitoring of the grade point average and completion rate is done at least annually and often each semester.  Higher education institutions monitor “pace toward completion” by calculating the percentage of courses completed successfully.  If a student has too many unsuccessful hours (including classes from which the student withdraws) or the grade point average falls below the standard required at any monitoring point, the student may lose eligibility for federal aid.  Students that exceed the limit on total credit hours attempted before a bachelor’s degree is completed will lose eligibility as well.

Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU)

All Title IV eligible students are allowed approximately 6 full-time academic years of Pell grant eligibility or until the student receives a bachelor’s degree, whichever comes first.  Use of Pell grant eligibility in pursuit of an AAS degree may limit the student’s future ability to qualify for Pell grant funding if the student later chooses to pursue a bachelor’s degree.  The limit on Pell grant eligibility is based on what the student actually receives (as a percentage of the annual award).  If AAS recipients decide to pursue a bachelor’s degree after receiving Pell grant funding for their AAS degree, they may find that their Pell grant eligibility expires before requirements are met for the bachelor’s degree. 

Aggregate Loan Limits and New Legislation

New Regulations (Public Law 112-141) written to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1, 2012 also included a limit on new borrowers. A new borrower on or after July 1, 2013  will not be eligible for new Direct Subsidized Loans if the period during which the borrower has received such loans  exceeds 150 percent  of the published length of the borrower’s educational program.  These regulations are in addition to long standing aggregate limits on student loan eligibility. 


High School student example

A high school student begins a cooperative agreement program and receives 30 hours credit while in high school.  The student does not continue the AAS degree and decides to pursue a bachelor’s degree (BA or BS, not a bachelor’s of technology) at a university.  The student now begins a degree program that requires 124 credit hours.  The 30 hours taken previously will not count toward the degree, but the hours and grades may be counted for federal financial aid purposes even though the student did not receive federal financial aid for the coursework.  As long as the hours taken previously were successful and the grades were good, the student should be eligible to receive financial aid for the bachelor’s program; however, this student must be aware of the 186 total attempted hour limit and will have limited options for program/major changes and other unforeseen completion obstacles.

If the preceding student drops out of the cooperative agreement program or fails some of the hours taken, the adverse effect could be more difficult to overcome.  If the grades received were Ws, the “pace to completion” could immediately cause the student to be probationary or even suspended from financial aid.  If the grades were Fs the grade point average component could cause the student to be placed on immediate probation or suspended from financial aid.  Since all courses and grades are counted for financial aid purposes, past failures will continue to have an effect on future eligibility and options.

Adult student example

An adult student begins a cooperative agreement program and receives a Pell grant for the program.  The student moves from the technology center to the higher education institution and completes the AAS.  At this point, these students have used about 1/3 of their lifetime eligibility for Pell grants.  Now the student decides to pursue a bachelor’s degree (BA or BS, not a bachelor’s of technology)at a university.  Only about 18 hours (general education) of the 60 hours taken previously counts toward the degree but all the hours and grades are counted for federal financial aid purposes.  The student will need to take at least 100 hours to complete the bachelor’s degree.  The student’s Pell grant eligibility will expire after about eight semesters of full time enrollment in the bachelor’s degree program. This could represent as few as 96 hours.

If the preceding student has had unsuccessful hours either in the AAS program or during the pursuit of the bachelor’s degree, options for financial aid eligibility will be limited in the same way as in the high school student example.

Receipt of student loans also complicates the student’s situation.  Aggregate loan limits may restrict students’ ability to receive loans to pay for the completion of their degrees.

Keep in mind that there are variables involved.  Institutions have some flexibility in the design of their SAP policies.  Some higher education institutions may not count hours and grades taken that do not apply to the current program in the evaluation of SAP.  However, the Pell grant limits are very defined and no student will be eligible to exceed the 6 full-time academic year limit on Pell grant recipients.  Student loan recipients must be aware of aggregate limits as well as the new borrower limits outlined in the recent legislation.   

Ultimately, the “take away” should be that taking hours for college credit can affect the student’s future eligibility for federal financial aid even if financial aid is not received for the college credit courses.  Any courses that a student fails to complete successfully or any courses that do not count toward the student’s ultimate post-secondary degree objective may jeopardize the student’s financial aid eligibility. 

The above information provided by OSRHE.

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