1. A. The State Department of Education, in cooperation with the Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability, shall review and approve career-readiness assessments and assessment-based credentials that measure and document foundational workplace skills. Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, the assessments shall be made available to all public school districts to be administered at the discretion of each school district’s administration to students in grades ten through twelve at least once prior to their graduation from high school. The assessment-based credential shall be available to any student who achieves the prescribed level on the required assessment. If the public school district chooses to administer the assessments, the assessments shall be administered at least once to each student who chooses to take the assessment at no cost to the student. The assessments shall:

   1. 1. Be a standardized, criterion-referenced measure of broadly relevant foundational workplace skills;
   2. 2. Assess and document student readiness for a wide range of jobs;

   3. 3. Measure skills in the following areas including, but not limited to:

      1. a. applied mathematics,
      2. b. workplace documents,
      3. c. graphic literacy, or
      4. d. critical thinking and leadership collaboration;
   4. 4. Align with research-based skill requirement profiles for specific industries and occupations;
   5. 5. Lead to nationally recognized work-readiness certificates or credentials for students who meet the minimum proficiency requirements on the component assessments; and
   6. 6. Be available in paper- and computer-based formats.
2. B. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, in consultation with the American Council on Education National Guide, may promulgate rules to allow institutions of higher education within The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education to grant college credit based on assessment-based credentials and scores earned on career-readiness assessments.

Laws 2019, HB 1364, c. 419, § 1, emerg. eff. July 1, 2019; Amended by Laws 2026, SB 1632, c. 440, § 1, emerg. eff. July 1, 2026 (superseded document available).