Missouri Higher Education Core Transfer Curriculum (CORE 42)

 

Background

Senate Bill 997 established the Higher Education Core Transfer Curriculum Act (Sections 178.785-789 RSMo), which directs the Coordinating Board for Higher Education to develop a standard core transfer curriculum and a common course numbering equivalency matrix for lower-division general education courses. The core transfer curriculum, known as CORE 42, is a framework for general education that all Missouri public two-and four-year institutions of higher education adopted effective for the 2018-2019 academic year. The goal of the CORE 42 is to facilitate the seamless transfer of academic credits. The completion of the CORE 42 at any public institution of higher education will transfer to every other public institution of higher education in the state and substitute for the receiving institution’s general education requirement. Individual courses that comprise the CORE 42 are guaranteed to transfer one-to-one among all public (and participating independent) colleges and universities in Missouri.

The framework for Missouri’s CORE 42 is designed for students to obtain the basic competencies of Valuing, Managing Information, Communicating, and Higher-Order Thinking through the completion of at least 42-semester hours distributed across the broad Knowledge Areas of Communications, Humanities & Fine Arts, Natural & Mathematical Sciences, and Social & Behavioral Sciences. Students obtain the competencies through completion of the CORE 42 in its entirety.

The following independent institutions have also signed on to the CORE 42:

  • Central Methodist University, Missouri Baptist University, Avila University, and Rockhurst University (beginning in the 2019-2020 academic year)
  • Logan University (beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year)
  • Lindenwood University (beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year)
CORE 42 Knowledge Areas and Distribution Requirements
Knowledge AreaDistribution Requirement
Social & Behavioral SciencesNine (9) credit hours minimum, from at least two (2) disciplines, including at least one Civics course.**
Written CommunicationsSix (6) credit hours minimum.
Oral CommunicationsThree (3) credit hours minimum.
Natural SciencesSeven (7) credit hours minimum, from at least two (2) disciplines, including one course with a lab component.
Mathematical SciencesThree (3) credit hours minimum. Mathematical Sciences courses that use one of the pathways courses as a prerequisite will meet the general education credit for math. For example, Calculus meets the general education math requirement since Pre-Calculus Algebra is a prerequisite.
Humanities & Fine ArtsNine (9) credit hours minimum, from at least two (2) disciplines. There is a limit of three (3) credit hours of Performance (PERF) courses that can be applied to the Humanities & Fine Arts Knowledge Area and to the total CORE 42.
CORE 42 Electives

Remaining five (5) credit hours may come from:

  • IDSE (Interdisciplinary) MOTR equivalent courses.
  • Any MOTR equivalent course distributed across the knowledge areas except for PERF equivalent courses which are limited to a total of three (3) credit hours. 

**Note that the civics requirement in CORE 42 is different from and does not fulfill the requirements of RSMo 170.013, Missouri Higher Education Civics Achievement Examination.

CORE 42 News
  1. The Core Curriculum Advisory Committee (CCAC) will NOT be using the online portal for official MOTR equivalence (new, substantial update, clerical update, deactivation) submissions this year. Instead, institutions will submit the appropriate form with the required information to MDHEWD via email by October 15, 2025. Select members of the CCAC will then complete a test of the online portal using some of these forms in Fall 2025 to ensure full functionality for the following year. See the Resources section below for the forms for MOTR equivalence for the 2026-27 Academic Year.
     
  2. There are now two Interdisciplinary Studies MOTRs: MOTR IDSE 101 Navigating College  and MOTR IDSE 102, Wellness for the Individual. Equivalent courses must be at least two credit hours and include the minimum learning outcomes. IDSE credits earned in an equivalent course do not apply to the minimum 37 credit hour requirements across the different Knowledge Areas, but instead count towards the additional five credit electives required to meet 42 hours for CORE 42. Note that individual institutions are not required to have equivalent courses for every single MOTR to include the IDSE MOTRs. However, all courses equivalent to a MOTR are guaranteed to transfer for completion of the CORE 42.
     
  3. MOTR equivalence reviews will be conducted by faculty discipline experts submitted by the CAOs for each MOTR, with the exception of IDSE, which is reviewed by the full CCAC. Each institution may submit one review of each equivalent course proposal, excluding its own institution’s course. Updated lists of faculty discipline experts are due to MDHEWD in early fall. Reviews will take place in late October 2025 through early November 2025, with decisions released to institutions by December 2025, and an updated Approved Course Database with MOTR course equivalents will be posted in February 2026 for Academic Year 2026-27.
     
  4. Faculty members reviewing course equivalencies may watch a training video about the process (or access it in the Resources section below). Please contact david.hewkin@dhewd.mo.gov if you have questions.
     
  5. The moratorium on proposing new MOTRS within the Knowledge Areas of Communications, Humanities and Fine Arts, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences is still in place. The CCAC will decide if there is a need to pursue a study of possible additional MOTR IDSE. If a study is pursued, Chief Academic Officers will be contacted to provide information and/or faculty discipline experts.
Approved Course Databases

**Courses reviewed from the institution Saint Luke's College of Health Sciences have been reassigned to Rockhurst University
 

Resources

AY 26-27 MOTR equivalence (new, substantial change, clerical update, deactivation) Proposals

Most MOTRs now have faculty-approved minimum student learning outcomes for equivalent courses. The Core Curriculum Advisory Committee (CCAC) plans to resolve the MOTRs that do not yet have faculty-approved outcomes in the next year. Institutions submitting a new course equivalency or a substantial update for a currently equivalent course should link the institutional course outcomes with the statewide MOTR outcomes.

List of MOTRs with student learning outcomes and notes: Note that an institution’s course outcomes can be phrased differently than the minimum MOTR learning outcomes and may go beyond the MOTR minimums. A faculty discipline group determines if the institution’s course meets minimal criteria for equivalent transfer to include all minimum learning outcomes for MOTR equivalence.

The Core Curriculum Advisory Committee (CCAC) will NOT be using the online portal for official MOTR equivalence (new, substantial update, clerical update, deactivation) submissions this year. Instead, institutions submit the appropriate form with the required information to MDHEWD via email by October 15, 2025. Institutions submitting courses for equivalency to a MOTR must include all required information on the form; do not submit additional documents or syllabi. Chief Academic Officers signing/submitting the submission form are asked to attest that the course information to include expected learning outcomes, is consistent across all sections of the course taught at the institution.

Please contact david.hewkin@dhewd.mo.gov if you have questions.

Additional CORE 42 Resources

Core Curriculum Advisory Committee

AY 2024-2025 Meeting Dates

  • September 20, 2024 (virtual) - 10:00 a.m.
  • October 18, 2024 (in-person in Jefferson City) - 10:00 a.m.
  • November 15, 2024 (in-person in Jefferson City) - 10:00 a.m.
  • February 21, 2025 (virtual) - 10:00 a.m.
  • April 11, 2025 (in-person, University of Missouri- Columbia) - 10:00 a.m.
  • June 6, 2025 (virtual) - 10:00 a.m.

Please contact David Hewkin for more information about CORE 42.