By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer
published Dec. 27, 2007

Just over 5 percent of Mustang ninth-grade parents opted their students out of the state’s college preparatory curriculum — a fraction of the number reported last year.

Starting in fall 2006, Oklahoma started offering students two high school tracks — a plan aimed at better preparing students for college.

In its first year, almost a quarter of Mustang ninth-grade parents opted children out of the curriculum. This year 31 students out of 595 in this year’s freshman class opted out of the state’s college preparatory, work-ready curriculum — at a rate that is half of the state average of 11 percent.

The difference could just be the form’s wording and procedures, said Geoff Kingsley, district secondary curriculum coordinator. In 2006, if a parent didn’t return the form, officials counted children out of the college-preparatory track, while in 2007 those students remained in the program.

“We sent out a passive consent form, meaning that everybody gets the form and if you don’t turn one back in you are automatically defaulted into college prep curriculum,” he said.

The primary difference between the college preparatory and standard diplomas is an added foreign language or computer science requirement. Students are required to take either two years of foreign language or two years of computer science, which is in line with Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program scholarship guidelines.

OHLAP also requires students to take one year of fine arts and two additional classes in either foreign language, computer science or one of the core subjects, while the college preparatory requirements require just one other course.

If students complete OHLAP-required courses with at least a 2.5 GPA and their parents earn less than $50,000 a year, they can qualify to attend college in Oklahoma tuition free.