The Power of the CORE 42
By Steven Chaffin | November 2018
As Missouri works to meet the goal of 60 percent of working-age adults with a high-quality postsecondary degree or certificate by 2025, helping students obtain those credentials is more important than ever. Missouri’s student population is not static. Because an average of 14,000 students transfer for the first time each fall, it is important that Missouri colleges are streamlining the transfer process, helping students save both time and money.
This fall, Missouri took a leap in the right direction with the implementation of the Core Transfer Curriculum, or CORE 42. The idea behind the CORE 42 is simple, but ambitious: If a student takes a general education course at one Missouri public college or university, they should be able to transfer it to any other public institution in the state without a hitch. This has required the state to ask hard questions about what students should be required to learn and the tools they need to be successful in a modern, dynamic workforce. Gathering input from the institutions, the CORE 42 became a reality across Missouri’s 13 public universities, its 13 community colleges and its state technical college.
Students completing Missouri’s 42-credit hour core curriculum, which consists of more than 2,500 courses offered across the state, can transfer to another institution without fear of having to retake any of those courses, benefiting both their watch and wallet. In practice, this means that students who decide at any point in their college career that their school isn’t right for them have the opportunity to change institutions without being punished for it. It means that a student who needs to relocate for family or financial reasons won’t have to make a trade-off between what’s best for them personally and what they can afford to do. Students taking credit in high school will also benefit as they head to a public campus after graduation. Students may choose to take a course at their local college during their summer at home, with credit transferring seamlessly back to their university. Because thousands of students transfer within the state of Missouri each year, this program has the opportunity to leave a large and positive footprint.
Regardless of where they take each course, Missouri’s students will complete their core courses with the basic competencies of valuing, managing information, communicating and higher order thinking. Per the CORE 42 framework, “Students acquire an understanding of the diversities and complexities of the cultural and social world, past and present, and come to an informed sense of self and others.” The goal: Ensure that students completing the CORE 42 have the skills they need to excel wherever life takes them next.
Beyond an investment in Missouri’s young people, the CORE 42 is an investment in Missouri’s economy. By articulating the competencies we want students to have after completing their general education, we’re better aligning our institutions with Missouri’s workforce needs.
The work doesn’t stop there. The CORE 42 is intended to be an ongoing project with an ever-growing list of seamlessly transferable courses. The Missouri Department of Higher Education is collecting feedback from colleges and universities about additional courses that should be added to the CORE 42. With your help, we can inform Missouri’s future college students about the breadth of opportunities before them in the state while working to grow those opportunities each academic year. As advisors, you can help encourage students to view all the CORE 42 courses as they think about applying to college and transferring. Some students know early that they’ll start at one school with the intention of transferring after two years. Using the CORE 42, they can be sure their courses will transfer seamlessly.
You can also help inform students of the Course Transfer Tracker, a new online tool developed around the CORE 42. Students can select the courses they’ve taken or plan to take and see exactly how they will transfer to other public colleges and universities in the state. This new tool on the Journey to College website was designed to help students make informed decisions about transfer, and to track their progress as they work toward completing their general education requirements.
Steven Chaffin is copywriter/editor for Strategic Communications & Outreach with the Missouri Department of Higher Education.
This fall, Missouri took a leap in the right direction with the implementation of the Core Transfer Curriculum, or CORE 42. The idea behind the CORE 42 is simple, but ambitious: If a student takes a general education course at one Missouri public college or university, they should be able to transfer it to any other public institution in the state without a hitch. This has required the state to ask hard questions about what students should be required to learn and the tools they need to be successful in a modern, dynamic workforce. Gathering input from the institutions, the CORE 42 became a reality across Missouri’s 13 public universities, its 13 community colleges and its state technical college.
Students completing Missouri’s 42-credit hour core curriculum, which consists of more than 2,500 courses offered across the state, can transfer to another institution without fear of having to retake any of those courses, benefiting both their watch and wallet. In practice, this means that students who decide at any point in their college career that their school isn’t right for them have the opportunity to change institutions without being punished for it. It means that a student who needs to relocate for family or financial reasons won’t have to make a trade-off between what’s best for them personally and what they can afford to do. Students taking credit in high school will also benefit as they head to a public campus after graduation. Students may choose to take a course at their local college during their summer at home, with credit transferring seamlessly back to their university. Because thousands of students transfer within the state of Missouri each year, this program has the opportunity to leave a large and positive footprint.
Regardless of where they take each course, Missouri’s students will complete their core courses with the basic competencies of valuing, managing information, communicating and higher order thinking. Per the CORE 42 framework, “Students acquire an understanding of the diversities and complexities of the cultural and social world, past and present, and come to an informed sense of self and others.” The goal: Ensure that students completing the CORE 42 have the skills they need to excel wherever life takes them next.
Beyond an investment in Missouri’s young people, the CORE 42 is an investment in Missouri’s economy. By articulating the competencies we want students to have after completing their general education, we’re better aligning our institutions with Missouri’s workforce needs.
The work doesn’t stop there. The CORE 42 is intended to be an ongoing project with an ever-growing list of seamlessly transferable courses. The Missouri Department of Higher Education is collecting feedback from colleges and universities about additional courses that should be added to the CORE 42. With your help, we can inform Missouri’s future college students about the breadth of opportunities before them in the state while working to grow those opportunities each academic year. As advisors, you can help encourage students to view all the CORE 42 courses as they think about applying to college and transferring. Some students know early that they’ll start at one school with the intention of transferring after two years. Using the CORE 42, they can be sure their courses will transfer seamlessly.
You can also help inform students of the Course Transfer Tracker, a new online tool developed around the CORE 42. Students can select the courses they’ve taken or plan to take and see exactly how they will transfer to other public colleges and universities in the state. This new tool on the Journey to College website was designed to help students make informed decisions about transfer, and to track their progress as they work toward completing their general education requirements.
Steven Chaffin is copywriter/editor for Strategic Communications & Outreach with the Missouri Department of Higher Education.