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TOPS Core Curriculum Equivalent Courses

LOUISIANA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
OFFICE OF STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Bulletin
TOPS BULLETIN NUMBER:
T99-26
DATE ISSUED:
September 17, 1999
EFFECTIVE DATE:
As Indicated
DISTRIBUTION: Louisiana High Schools, Presidents and Superintendents of Parish School Boards, Louisiana Department of Education and Louisiana Officials
TOPIC: TOPS Core Curriculum Equivalent Courses 

To assure that your Scholarship and Grant Policy and Procedure Manual remains current, please record this document on your TOPS Bulletin index and retain it with your manual.

Rules of the Louisiana Student Financial Assistance Commission, (specifically, Louisiana Administrative Code Title 28, Part IV) have been revised to provide that certain courses may satisfy core curriculum course requirements of 703.A.5.a.i. Quoted below are sections 703.A.5.a.i. and the new section ii:

§Chapter 7. Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Opportunity; Performance and Honors Awards

...
§703. Establishing Eligibility
   
     A.-A.4.g. ...
   
         5. a. graduate from a BESE-approved, provisionally-approved, or probationally-approved public or nonpublic Louisiana high school or eligible non-Louisiana high school as defined in §1703.A.3; and
   
             i. at the time of high school graduation, an applicant must have successfully completed 16.5 units of high school course work constituting a core curriculum as follows:

Units

Course

1

English I

1

English II

1

English III

1

English IV

1

Algebra I (one unit) or Applied Algebra 1A and 1B (two units)

1

Algebra II

1

Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus or Comparable Advanced Math

1

Biology I

1

Chemistry I

1

Earth Science, Environmental Science, Physical Science, Biology II, Chemistry II or Physics, Physics II or Physics for Technology

1

American History

1

World History, World Culture, Western Civilization or World Geography

1

Civics and Free Enterprise (one unit combined) or

Civics (one unit, nonpublic)

1

Fine Arts Survey; (or substitute two units Performance courses in Music, Dance and/or Theater; or two units of Studio Art or Visual Art; or one elective from among the other subjects listed in this core curriculum)

2

In the Same Foreign Language (one unit or credit for three or more hours of college foreign language for students graduating from high school during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 school years).

½

Computer Science, Computer Literacy or Business Computer Applications (or substitute at least one-half unit of an elective course related to computers that is approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education; (or substitute at least one-half unit of an elective from among the other subjects listed in this core curriculum)

 

                ii. for purposes of satisfying the requirements of §703.A.5.a.i., above, the following courses shall be considered equivalent to the identified core courses and may be substituted to satisfy corresponding core courses:

Core Curriculum Course                                                                    Equivalent (Substitute) Course
Physical Science                                                                                 General Science

Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry                                                  Integrated Mathematics I, II and III

Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, or Comparable                         Pre-Calculus, Algebra III, Probability and Statistics, 
Advanced Mathematics                                                                      Discrete Mathematics 

Fine Arts Survey                                                                                 Speech Debate (2 units)

Western Civilization                                                                            European History

                or

A.5.b.-G.2. ...

...

Chapter 8.     TOPS-TECH Award

...

§803. Establishing Eligibility

A.- 6.c. ...

        d. for purposes of satisfying the core curriculum requirements for a TOPS-Tech award, a student may substitute for a core curriculum course those courses listed as equivalent courses in §703.A.5.a.ii.

A.7.-11. ...