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FAQ - Course Code Mapping

General Questions


What should I map a CU Government course to?

When mapping courses to the state standard course codes, CDE recommends focusing on content rather than rigor or delivery method. So, in this instance CDE recommends mapping this course to a general civics course code.

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How would we code honors courses?

The file layout has a data element called Course Level. The description for that field is as follows:

Valid values are:

B = Basic/Remedial - A course focusing primarily on skills development, including literacy in language, mathematics, and the physical and social sciences. These courses typically meet the state's or district's expectations of scope and difficulty for mastery of the content.

G = General (DEFAULT) - A course providing instruction in a given subject area that focuses primarily on general concepts appropriate for the grade level. General courses typically meet the state's or district's expectations of scope and difficulty for mastery of the content.

E = Enriched/Honors - A course that augments the content and/or rigor of a general course. These courses typically include additional content not found in general courses. (Note: These courses are NOT designated as Advanced Placement or International Bachelorette. Those courses have a unique State Course Code because they have specific curriculums designated by their organization. Typically AP/IB courses are designated as General for mapping purposes since they have a unique/special course code that already designates their level of rigor.)

X = No specified level for rigor. The notion of "rigor" may not be appropriate for some courses at the elementary or middle school levels; survey or interest courses that expose students to a variety of subjects are examples.

View the file layout in its entirety

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Which courses will be required to have a source code? Only core areas or all courses?

All courses will be mapped to the Statewide Standard Course Codes.

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What is a credit in terms of the Statewide Standard Course Code mapping?

Credits are expressed as a Carnegie unit (a measure of time) not a measure of graduation requirements earned nor weighted grade point average calculations:

A Carnegie unit should be calculated based on classroom time of approximately 1 hour each day or 5 hours each week over the course of one year. Here is a sample calculation table for demonstration purposes.

Carnegie Approximate Class Term

Credit Value Hours

        • 1.00 120 Full Year
        • 0.50 60 Semester
        • 0.25 30 Quarter
        • 0.33 40 TriMester
        • 0.17 20 HexMester

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Why am I getting an error when I use a credit of 1?

The system requires the credit/grade span field to contain 4 characters.  Since this field is used to represent either credits or grade span,  a decision was made to require for characters.  This means a 1 credit course must be entered as 1.00.  A 0.5 credit course should be entered as 0.50.  Since the system will allow a 10 credit course,  this value would be 10.0.  Below are some examples of valid credit values

Credit Value Hours

        • 1.00 120 Full Year
        • 0.50 60 Semester
        • 0.25 30 Quarter
        • 0.33 40 TriMester
        • 0.17 20 HexMester

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