General Education

West Texas A&M University’s views the core curriculum as integral to its students' success. The competencies of the University’s general education program are comprised of the Texas Core Curriculum (TCC) mandated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).

THECB Texas Core Curriculum (TCC)

Every graduate of an undergraduate degree program at a public higher education institution in Texas must fulfill the Texas Core Curriculum (TCC) requirements established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). WTAMU’s Core Curriculum adheres to these requirements by providing students with opportunities to develop intellectual competence in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking that are "essential to the learning process in any discipline."

During 2011, the THECB revised the Texas Core Curriculum in an effort to incorporate 21st century competencies into the required components. In doing so, the Coordinating Board replaced the basic intellectual competencies and essential educational objectives with six Core Objectives:

• Critical Thinking Skills (CT) - to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information;
• Communication Skills (COM) - to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication;
• Empirical and Quantitative Skills (EQS) - to include manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions;
• Teamwork (TW) - to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal;
• Social Responsibility (SR) - to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities; and,
• Personal Responsibility (PR) - to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.

The TCC requires a minimum of 42 semester credit hours (SCH) of coursework in nine Foundational Component Areas that are mapped to the Core Objectives, as all courses in the TCC must be at the freshman or sophomore levels.

In preparation for implementation of the revised TCC in fall 2014, the University underwent a rigorous curricular review of its Core course offerings. At a policy level, the University sought to maintain the requirement that all students take a three-hour Communications course during their Core coursework. In order to fit within the newly adopted structure, the University shifted the second English course previously required to the Component Area Option. The University also increased the number of optional courses for students in the Component Area Option and raised the number of "elective" hours in this option from 1-3 under the previous Curriculum to 6 SCH in the new Core Curriculum.

As part of the curricular review process, a Core Curriculum Revision Committee was created in spring 2012 to review proposals for each course that would be included in the Core Curriculum, ensuring that each course complied with the new THECB Foundational Component Areas and required Core Objectives. The committee met during the spring and fall semesters in 2012, completing their recommendation of courses to be included in the core in November 2012. For each proposed course, academic programs were required to submit a common Core Curriculum Revision: Course Application Form, along with a syllabus for the course. The Course Application Form required programs to specify course learning objectives and applicable TCC Core Objectives, and to provide assessment methods to be incorporated. Internally approved courses were submitted to the THECB, as 95 courses were approved and comprised the current University Core Curriculum. New courses seeking approval for inclusion in the University’s Core Curriculum must follow the same documentation process when submitting formal requests to the Core Curriculum Committee for approval.

The Coordinating Board’s Table of Foundational Component Areas summarizes the interrelationship between the Foundational Component Areas and the Core Objectives, indicating which Foundational Component Areas must address specific Core Objectives. The alignment of the University’s Core Curriculum to THECB’s Core Objectives demonstrates, in part, that these general education outcomes are deemed to be at the college level.

To facilitate the transition to the new TCC, the Office of Learning Assessment has developed a schedule for assessing each of the six Core Objectives. With 2014-2015 serving as the first year of implementation for the revised TCC, WTAMU aligned the schedule of assessments with expectations expressed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Based on information provided by THECB, the Coordinating Board expects four-year public universities to assess each of the Core Objectives on a three-year rotation. The schedule outlined below conforms to, and exceeds the design by THECB, performing assessments of these outcomes over two-year cycles. Results of this assessment is recorded on an Institutional Effectiveness dashboard each semester. Depending on results of assessments conducted in accordance with this schedule, assessment may occur more frequently if data indicate areas of deficiency that need to be addressed.

Schedule of Assessments for Texas Core Curriculum

After the outcomes were vetted and consensus reached, the ad-hoc committees modified the appropriate VALUE rubrics that had been developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) for each core objective. These committees used the structure provided by the VALUE rubrics that are designed to assess student learning at the introductory, developing, and mastery levels.

Due to the far-reaching nature of the core objectivess, the University’s impact on student attainment of these learning outcomes is being measured through academic program assessments, as well as intentional and systematic efforts conducted by academic support and student services units on campus. Direct assessment methods being used with the SLOs include course-embedded assessments, portfolios, and licensing exams at the discretion of the faculty. Indirect methods incorporated into the assessment of core objectives include results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), service learning activities, participation in study abroad, exit surveys, and employer feedback.