Act 1290 of 1997, as amended by Act 520 of 1999, requires any public school student who graduates from a public high school after May 1, 2002, to have successfully completed the core curriculum as recommended by the State Board of Education in order to be unconditionally admitted to Arkansas public colleges and universities.
As higher education admission officers prepare to implement new admission plans for this legislation, they are asking high school counselors to indicate on transcripts whether or not the student completed the state's core curriculum.
Staff members from the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), the Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) and the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) have worked with a group of high school counselors and admission officers to develop a short standard phrase to use in marking high school transcripts. The APSCN system (Pentamation Software) can be set to print the following at the bottom of the transcripts that would be a one-time set-up for the wording to be placed on the transcript.
A State Core (is - is not) on track or (has - has not) been met.
Date:_________ Signature:___________________
When printing a six or seven semester transcript, the "is" would be circled if the student is making progress and is expected to complete the core curriculum. If the student will not complete the core curriculum by graduation, the "is not" would be circled.
When printing the final transcript, the "has" or "has not" would be circled to indicate whether or not the student has completed the core curriculum.
The printed copies would contain the person's signature providing the information and the date the information was printed.
Schools using other types of transcripts could use a stamp or add the wording listed above to the school transcript in order to keep this process standardized.
Thank you in advance for your time and assistance as we provide an easier application process for students entering post-secondary institutions. Our higher education colleagues should appreciate the assistance in this new admissions process.