SECTION 4.28. Core Curriculum

(a) General.

(1) In accordance with Texas Education Code, §§61.821 - 61.832, each institution of higher education that offers an undergraduate academic degree program shall design and implement a core curriculum, including specific courses composing the curriculum, of no less than 42 lower-division semester credit hours.

(2) No upper-division course shall be approved to fulfill a foundational component area requirement in the core curriculum if it is substantially comparable in content or depth of study to a lower-division course listed in the Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual.

(3) Medical or dental units that admit undergraduate transfer students should encourage those students to complete their core curriculum requirement at a general academic teaching institution or public junior college.

(b) Texas Core Curriculum. Each institution of higher education that offers an undergraduate academic degree program shall develop its core curriculum by using the Board-approved purpose, core objectives, and foundational component areas of the Texas Core Curriculum.

(1) Statement of Purpose. Through the Texas Core Curriculum, students will gain a foundation of knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world, develop principles of personal and social responsibility for living in a diverse world, and advance intellectual and practical skills that are essential for all learning.

(2) Core Objectives. Through the Texas Core Curriculum, students will prepare for contemporary challenges by developing and demonstrating the following core objectives:

(A) Critical Thinking Skills: to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information;

(B) Communication Skills: to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication;

(C) Empirical and Quantitative Skills: to include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions;

(D) Teamwork: to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal;

(E) Personal Responsibility: to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making; and

(F) Social Responsibility: to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.

(3) Foundational Component Areas with Content Descriptions, Core Objectives and Semester Credit Hour (SCH) Requirements. Each institution's core curriculum will be composed of courses that adhere to the content description, core objectives, and semester credit hour requirements for a specific component area. The foundational component areas are:

(A) Communication (6 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on developing ideas and expressing them clearly, considering the effect of the message, fostering understanding, and building the skills needed to communicate persuasively.

(ii) Courses involve the command of oral, aural, written, and visual literacy skills that enable people to exchange messages appropriate to the subject, occasion, and audience.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility.

(B) Mathematics (3 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on quantitative literacy in logic, patterns, and relationships.

(ii) Courses involve the understanding of key mathematical concepts and the application of appropriate quantitative tools to everyday experience.

(iii) The following three Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, and Empirical and Quantitative Skills.

(C) Life and Physical Sciences (6 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on describing, explaining, and predicting natural phenomena using the scientific method.

(ii) Courses involve the understanding of interactions among natural phenomena and the implications of scientific principles on the physical world and on human experiences.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Empirical and Quantitative Skills, and Teamwork.

(D) Language, Philosophy, and Culture (3 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on how ideas, values, beliefs, and other aspects of culture express and affect human experience.

(ii) Courses involve the exploration of ideas that foster aesthetic and intellectual creation in order to understand the human condition across cultures.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Personal Responsibility, and Social Responsibility.

(E) Creative Arts (3 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on the appreciation and analysis of creative artifacts and works of the human imagination.

(ii) Courses involve the synthesis and interpretation of artistic expression and enable critical, creative, and innovative communication about works of art.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Teamwork, and Social Responsibility.

(F) American History (6 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on the consideration of past events and ideas relative to the United States, with the option of including Texas History for a portion of this component area.

(ii) Courses involve the interaction among individuals, communities, states, the nation, and the world, considering how these interactions have contributed to the development of the United States and its global role.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Personal Responsibility, and Social Responsibility.

(G) Government/Political Science (6 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on consideration of the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the states, with special emphasis on that of Texas.

(ii) Courses involve the analysis of governmental institutions, political behavior, civic engagement, and their political and philosophical foundations.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Personal Responsibility, and Social Responsibility.

(H) Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 SCH).

(i) Courses in this category focus on the application of empirical and scientific methods that contribute to the understanding of what makes us human.

(ii) Courses involve the exploration of behavior and interactions among individuals, groups, institutions, and events, examining their impact on the individual, society, and culture.

(iii) The following four Core Objectives must be addressed in each course approved to fulfill this category requirement: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Empirical and Quantitative Skills, and Social Responsibility.

(4) Component Area Option (6 SCH).

(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, each course designated to complete the Component Area Option must meet the definition and Core Objectives specified in one of the foundational component areas outlined in paragraph (3)(A) - (H) of this subsection.

(B) As an option for up to three (3) semester credit hours of the Component Area Option, an institution may certify that the course(s):

(i) Meet(s) the definition specified for one or more of the foundational component areas; and

(ii) Include(s) a minimum of three Core Objectives, including Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, and one of the remaining Core Objectives of the institution's choice.

(C) For the purposes of gaining approval for or reporting a Component Area Option course under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, an institution is not required to notify the Board of the specific foundational component area(s) and Core Objectives associated with the course(s).

(5) Applicability of Texas Core Curriculum.

(A) Any student who first enrolls in an institution of higher education following high school graduation in fall 2014 or later shall be subject to the current Texas Core Curriculum requirements.

(B) Any student who is admitted under the terms of the Academic Fresh Start program and who first enrolls under that admission in fall 2014 or later shall be subject to the current Texas Core Curriculum requirements.

(C) Any student who first enrolled in an institution of higher education prior to fall 2014 shall, after consultation with an academic advisor, have the choice to:

(i) complete the core curriculum requirements in effect in summer 2014; or

(ii) transition to the current core curriculum requirements, in which case, previously completed core curriculum courses shall be applied to the current core curriculum requirements under the same terms as those that apply to a student who transfers from one institution to another. The student shall then complete the remaining requirements under the current core curriculum.

(c) Transfer of Credit--Completed Core Curriculum. If a student successfully completes the 42 semester credit hour core curriculum at a Texas public institution of higher education, that block of courses must be substituted in transfer to any other Texas public institution of higher education for the receiving institution's core curriculum. A student shall receive academic credit for each of the courses transferred and may not be required to take additional core curriculum courses at the receiving institution.

(d) Concurrent Enrollment.

(1) A student concurrently enrolled at more than one institution of higher education shall follow the core curriculum requirements in effect for the institution at which the student is classified as a degree-seeking student.

(2) A student who is concurrently enrolled at more than one institution of higher education may be classified as a degree-seeking student at only one institution.

(3) If a student maintains continuous enrollment from a spring semester to the subsequent fall semester at an institution at which the student has declared to be seeking a degree, the student remains a degree-seeking student at that institution regardless of the student's enrollment during the intervening summer session(s) at another institution.

(e) Transfer of Credit--Core Curriculum Not Completed. Except as specified in subsection (f) of this section, a student who transfers from one institution of higher education to another without completing the core curriculum of the sending institution must receive academic credit within the core curriculum of the receiving institution for each of the courses that the student has successfully completed in the core curriculum of the sending institution. Following receipt of credit for these courses, the student may be required to satisfy the remaining course requirements in the core curriculum of the receiving institution.

(f) Satisfaction of Foundational Component Areas. Each student must meet the number of semester credit hours in each foundational component area; however, an institution receiving a student in transfer is not required to apply to the fulfillment of a foundational component area requirement semester credit hours beyond the number of semester credit hours specified in a foundational component area.

(g) A course may only apply to a single foundational component area. If the SCH for a course in a foundational component exceed the number of SCH allotted in that foundational component area, the excess SCH must either be applied to the Component Area Option or as part of the specific degree requirements, such that the additional SCH will not increase the number of required SCH to complete the degree.

(h) Transcripts. All undergraduate student transcripts should indicate whether a student has completed the core curriculum satisfactorily, and which courses satisfied a requirement of the institution's core curriculum. Identifying numbers recommended by the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (TACRAO) must identify each completed core curriculum course on students' transcripts, in order to indicate courses utilized to satisfy core curriculum foundational component area requirements as follows:

(1) Communication = 010;

(2) Mathematics = 020;

(3) Life and Physical Sciences = 030;

(4) Language, Philosophy and Culture = 040;

(5) Creative Arts = 050;

(6) American History = 060;

(7) Government/Political Science = 070;

(8) Social and Behavioral Sciences = 080; and

(9) Component Area Option = 090.

(i) Notice. Each institution must publish and make readily available to students its core curriculum requirements stated in terms consistent with the Texas Common Course Numbering System.

(j) Substitutions and Waivers. No institution or institutional representative may approve course substitutions or waivers of the institution's core curriculum requirements for any currently enrolled student, except as provided in subsection (k) of this section. For students who transfer to a public institution from a college or university that is not a Texas public institution of higher education, courses the student completed prior to admission should be evaluated to determine whether they apply to one of the institution's core curriculum component areas. Only those courses the institution has accepted for transfer that can demonstrate fulfillment of the foundational component area content descriptions, core objectives, and semester credit hours required for the appropriate foundational component area or areas should be applied to the institution's core curriculum.

(k) Accommodations.

(1) An institution of higher education may, on a case-by-case basis, approve an accommodation of a specific core curriculum foundational component area requirement as described in paragraph (3) of this subsection for a student with a medically-documented learning disability, including but not limited to dyslexia, dysgraphia, or Asperger's Syndrome.

(2) Accommodation shall not include a waiver or exemption of any core curriculum requirement.

(3) An institution may approve for core curriculum applicability a course the institution offers but that is not approved as a part of the institution's core curriculum, if the institution demonstrates that the course has been approved to fulfill the same specific foundational component area requirement at five or more other Texas public colleges or universities. The Texas Common Course Numbering System course number may be used as evidence of the suitability of the course under this subsection.

Source Note: The provisions of this §4.28 adopted to be effective April 8, 2021, 46 TexReg 2209