In 1997, when Senate Bill 148 passed the 75^th Texas legislature, the faculty and staff of the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) embraced the legislative call to action as an opportunity to revisit the general education curriculum which had been in effect for more than a decade. Since the fall semester of 1997, district committees have been at work to insure that the Core Curriculum of the DCCCD is vibrant, consistent, and aligned with the expectations of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Statewide Advisory Committee for the Core Curriculum. During the first phase of work with the Core Curriculum, the focus of efforts was on defining a new curriculum for the DCCCD. The second committee working on Core Curriculum matters addressed compliance issues and made recommendations for advancing the Core throughout the activities of the colleges. Another committee was formed to recommend staff development activities to assist faculty who were leading assessment efforts and to inform student development personnel in advisement and student programming about their role in supporting the Core Curriculum. Finally, a coordinating team was established to support colleges with their assessment planning, to review results of student achievement of learning outcomes, to recommend and review changes to the Core, and to monitor data concerning student completion of the Core Curriculum.

Hundreds of faculty, both full- and part-time, and scores of staff have been involved in activities designed to embed the elements of the Core Curriculum in the institutional culture of the DCCCD. Because of the solid educational foundation they receive, the students who complete the DCCCD Core Curriculum are better prepared for successful transfer to Texas universities and to assume their roles in the social, political, and economic life of Dallas County and the State of Texas.