How to Add Core Requirements

Important: This tool is designed to allow you to create 'qualification tracks' for what are commonly known as 'Core Curriculum,' 'Core Requirements,' or 'Graduation Requirements.' In short, these tracks are the set of common courses required of all students to become eligible for either graduation, admittance into a state university, earning a degree/certification, or any other qualification track that you define. You may create as many of these core requirements qualification tracks as you like. For example, you may have one track for your own internal graduation requirements called 'Graduation Requirements' and another one defined by the state to meet eligibility requirements for admittance into a state university called 'State University Admission Requirements' and yet another one to attain a specialized certification such as 'STEM Certification.' Follow the steps listed below to create a core requirement qualification track:

Step 1: Create a New 'Core Requirements' Track

1. Click the New button to add a new Core Requirements track. Once you create a new track, you may add the requirements to complete that track by editing the track itself. You may create as many of these tracks as you like. Each track will have its own set of requirements.

Step 2: 'Per Program' vs 'Per Program Group' requirements

1. Now, before proceeding, ask yourself if the requirements for the track are going to be met:
   • per program (e.g., 9th grade and 10th grade have distinct and specific requirements that students must meet while in each respective program)
   • or per program group (e.g., high school requirements that a student must earn at some point while they are in high school, the specific year they meet the requirement isn't absolutely essential) or
   • both, some requirements MUST be met during a specific program year while others may be met at any point during the program group (e.g., high school) years.
   Once you know the answer, click the New button in the tab titled Programs and Program Groups from within the Core Requirements track you are working on. If a set of requirements must be met during a specific program year, then add that program. If a set of requirements may be met at any point during the program group years, then add the program group instead.
   
   

Step 3: Add Core Requirement 'Areas'

1. The requirements for each track may be broken down into distinct Areas. For example, there may be distinct requirements for math, science, language arts, etc. Please note, if you are interested in creating requirements by department, this tool will not automatically generate core requirement areas from your departments so if you want to create requirements per department, you will need to re-create your departments as areas here. Moreover, these 'areas' can be defined however you like or need. For example, you may create an area titled 'Ideals and Values' with eligible courses for meeting the requirements of this area coming from various departments including arts, humanities, history, etc. In short, areas may consist of any set of courses from any number of departments.
   
   
2. You may decide if students must:
   • (A) complete every course in that area in order to meet the requirements, in which case each course in the area would be required, OR
   • (B) if students must simply complete a certain number of credits from courses you specify in the area to meet the requirements (i.e., all courses in the area are not required, but a student must take enough of the courses in the area to attain the specified number of credits for the area).
     
     Regardless of the method you choose (A or B), you must specify the number of credits required for each area when you create a new area.
     
     
3. Each program or program group you added in Step 2 above must have its own distinct areas. Thus, if you plan on creating requirements for each program year and each year has its own 'math' requirements, then you must create one 'math' area per program year. If you plan on creating requirements per program group, you need only create the area once and add to it any courses that are eligible for meeting the requirements of that area (again, the year the course is completed isn't relevant with this approach so you may add courses from the 9th and 12th grades together in the same area).
   
   

Step 4: Add Courses to Core Requirement Areas

1. Once you have created the Areas, you may add both course templates and courses to that area. Go into each area you created and specify the course templates that qualify. This will help greatly in subsequent years because any courses generated from these templates in the forthcoming years (during the re-enrollment process) will automatically be added to your core requirements each year. If this is your first year using core requirements (or if you are creating these for past years), then you must also add to each area the courses that have already been generated for this or previous years.