All Texas universities are considered to have had a core curriculum in place for about the past 12 years.  There was a CB committee, and our own Jim Pickering was on it, and it said that all universities had to have a core curriculum, and it was loosely based on the UH model.  So anyone who has graduated in the past 10-12 years ought to be considered core complete, since the intent of the law is to ensure transferability and equivalency of requirements.  The core has made us all trading partners rather than bastions.  What if it’s more that 12 years?  All systems leak.  Use judgment, ask questions and send me an e-mail.

All Texas public institutions of higher education are considered to have a core curriculum since 1999, and there is some flexibility about that.  If a student has received an associate’s degree from a Texas community or junior college in Fall 1999 or later, that student should normally be considered core complete.  There is at least one exception:  people with an associate’s degree in MUSIC are not required to complete the entire core because of the demand for hours in the major.  There may be other such majors; if you think you know of one, let me know, and we’ll compile a list.  IN GENERAL, such degreed persons are core complete.

Degreed persons from private or out-of-state institutions must be evaluated individually.  Again, the difference should be clear:  The old core was a fortress; the new core stresses equivalency and flexibility.  People who grew up under the old core look to exclude as a default position.  The new core asks us to change that default position.

Transfers without a degree, of course, must be evaluated individually.  It is important to note that their courses must be evaluated on the basis of whether they counted for core AT THAT INSTITUTION, not whether they would have counted toward out core. IF IT COUNTS FOR CORE AT A TEXAS STATE INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION, IT MUST COUNT AS CORE WHEN A STUDENT TRANSFERS HERE.

Remember that there are 36 hours that are FIXED by the state. Everyone must have courses for these categories, but they may not be the same courses everywhere.  Everyone needs 6 hours of communication.  Communication might include not only freshman composition but also speech.  If speech counts for core there, it has to count for core here.  Generally, it counts toward communication.

Also remember that there are 6 hours that are flexible.  Three must be an additional requirement for any of the categories in the fixed 36 (Communication, Math, Science, Social Science, History, Government, Humanities, Visual/Performing Arts).  UH requires an additional 3 hours in Social Science.  We require that students here take one that is writing intensive, but we cannot exclude social science courses in transfer that would otherwise meet the social science category.  (An additional stipulation is that at least some courses in each category must be lower division and must be equivalent to courses listed in the Texas Common Course Numbering System.  That’s the loophole that lets those transfer.)  Other places may have required additional science, or additional communication, etc.  If students took those courses, we should transfer them in with core credit.

An additional three hours may be in one of the fixed categories, or may be in anything we make up.  We made up Math/Reasoning (different from math in that it includes some computer programming and logic, which are not math courses as such).  Other places may have made up entirely different categories (Health & Wellness is one).  If students took those courses, we should transfer them in with core credit. That means understanding other cores as well as ours, at least until everyone’s transcript catches up with reality.

One way to think about transfer is this:  If a person completes an associate’s degree (except in Music), then the person has completed the core curriculum.  But since the common core became law only in 1997 and most cores came into existence only in 1998 or 1999 (see http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Ctc/ip/core11_00/5_s.htm and http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Ctc/ip/core11_00/educode.htm), students receiving an associate’s degree prior to 2000 or 2001 might not have completed the newly adopted core curriculum, and in fact, some getting such a degree later may not have completed the core.  (How long can cc students graduate under a particular catalog?  I don’t know.)

In addition, particular community colleges (or even universities) may have other policies in place that would change all that.  We do not allow students any substitutions for College Algebra or Math/Reasoning, even if they are learning disabled in math.  Other places may be more flexible.  If a student is missing a particular core component, the institution of origin needs to be called or written.  Inquiries about the apparent lacuna should be made.  That institution can tell us what the basis for the omission might be.

If someone does get an associate’s degree and is lacking a core course, we at least need to find out why.  If there was a disability waiver, we probably have to honor that and not require the missing math (or whatever).  Even so, if there is math involved in any other way in their degree plan, they will have to meet that requirement (say if they’re majoring in psychology or if they want a B.S.).  And they’ll have to submit their disability information to CSD and the committee in order to get substitutions or other accommodations here.

If there is some other reason someone got an associate’s degree without math (no disability, no pre-1999 degree plan), then we may be able to require the course.

If students have a recent associate’s degree from a Texas community college, and if there are no glaring omissions, you may consider them core complete.  If there appear to be glaring errors, you may want to check the core curriculum of the originating institution.  There you may find that a course in Native Plants of East Texas may indeed fulfill the requirements of the Natural Sciences core component.  Or Adventures in Geophysics.  And if there still seems to be a problem, you should bring it to my attention.

We have guidelines that may make things easier.  Still, the core curriculum is not like light bulbs (fluorescent or incandescent, 60 watt or 75 watt, etc.).  The core curriculum involves many institutions making policies about several categories and a very large number of courses, and following those policies or not following those policies (either by design or by accident), and a substantial number of people here evaluating those institutions and their policies and their courses and categories and apparent exceptions.

There are definitely laws and CB policies and guidelines and hints and deep background.  Those make much of the job easy.  They don’t make the entire job easy.  If you want clarity, you have to look where the light is.  To deal with some things in the world, you have to look in the shadows.  The light doesn’t shine everywhere.

A final warning, particularly for out of state and private transfers: Texas requires six hours of American History and six hours of American and Texas constitutions (government) for every person getting a bachelor’s degree (first or subsequent) at a Texas public university (Undergraduate Catalog, page 73).  Check carefully.

As always, email or call if you have particular questions.

_______ACT English Score

_______TSWE (Test of Standard Written English)

_______SAT Verbal

_______TASP Writing Score

_______ASSET Writing Score

_______No TASP scores; SATV score of 650; ACTE of 18; no transfer credit for English

_______TSWE of 37; ACTE of 19; no transfer credit

_______TASP Writing Score of 250

_______No TSWE, TASP or ACT scores; 640 on SATV taken in 1975; no transfer credit.

_______TSWE of 34; taken last week.

_______Transfer credit for Composition I and II

1.   English 1300N (for non-native speakers of English)

2.   ENGL 1303

3.   ENGL 1309

4.   The PENNSE (Placement Exam for Non-Native Speakers of English)

_______BA (Basic Algebra)/Math Placement Exam

_______ACT Composite

_______SAT Math (after 4/1/95)

_______TASP Math Score

_______SAT Math 650 (taken 1996); Math major

_______Transfer credit for MATH 1310, BUSADM major

_______Transfer credit for MATH 1310 and 1330; COMM major

_______Transfer credit for MATH 1330; no scores; ARCH major

_______AP credit for MATH 1431; no scores

_______Satisfactory completion of MATH 1300 at UH

_______Completed Intermediate Algebra (UH equivalent = MATH 1300) at HCC; no scores

PHAR 2362______________________

PHYS 1301______________________

PHYS 1321______________________

PHYS 1306 ______________________

CHEM 1332______________________,_________________________

BIOL 1320_______________________

CHEM 1301______________________

BIOL 1431_______________________

QUIZ ANSWERS :

__19___ACT English Score

__40___TSWE (Test of Standard Written English)

_-----__SAT Verbal

__240__TASP Writing Score

_-----__ASSET Writing Score

_****__No TASP scores; SATV score of 650; ACTE of 18; no transfer credit for English

_1303__TSWE of 37; ACTE of 19; no transfer credit

_1303__TASP Writing Score of 250

_****__No TSWE, TASP or ACT scores; 640 on SATV taken in 1975; no transfer credit

_1300__TSWE of 34 taken last week.

_-----___Transfer credit for Composition I and II

1.   English 1300N (for non-native speakers of English)

2.   ENGL 1303

3.   ENGL 1309

4.   The PENNSE (Placement Exam for Non-Native Speakers of English)

__11___BA (Basic Algebra)/Math Placement Exam

__21___ACT Composite

_530___SAT Math (after 4/1/95)

_230__TASP Math Score

*1310__SAT Math 650 (taken 1996); Math major (FTIC-First time in college freshman)

_1314__Transfer credit for MATH 1310, BUSADM major

_------__Transfer credit for MATH 1310 and 1330; COMM major

_****__Transfer credit for MATH 1330; no scores; ARCH major

_1432__AP credit for MATH 1431; SATM 790 (taken 11/95); ENGI major (FTIC)

_1310__Satisfactory completion of MATH 1300 at UH

_****__Completed Intermediate Algebra (UH equivalent = MATH 1300) at HCC; no scores

PHAR 2362______ NONE_____________

PHYS 1301______MATH 1330_________

PHYS 1321______MATH 1431 ___________

PHYS 1306 __MATH 1310 or 1315 Concurrent_________

CHEM 1332_____CHEM 1331__;__MATH 1310 or 1315_______

BIOL 1320______ MATH 1310 or 1315 Concurrent _________

CHEM 1301_____MATH 1310 or 1315 Concurrent_________

BIOL 1431______MATH 1310 or 1315_________