Kansas Methods Of Administration (MOA) Program

The Kansas MOA Plan outlines procedures for civil rights compliance activities to be conducted by the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) for secondary institutions and the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) for postsecondary institutions delivering Career Technical Education (CTE).

The plan describes the process that KSDE and KBOR staff will follow to incorporate multiple data sources to identify disproportionate enrollment and other areas of potential discrimination and select subrecipients for onsite compliance reviews. The plan also describes how KSDE and KBOR will identify technical assistance needs related to civil rights compliance and provide training and technical assistance to subrecipients.

This plan is submitted pursuant to the program memorandum issued February 6, 2020 by the Office for Civil Rights and the Office for Career Technical and Adult Education.

Civil Rights Monitoring Information

Staff from KSDE and KBOR conduct desk audits and on-site monitoring visits to institutions delivering approved CTE pathways and programs to monitor compliance with Federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education. Desk audits will occur annually according to this chart and the Kansas MOA Plan.

KBOR Civil Rights Compliance On-Site Coordinator’s Manual is available to assist postsecondary institutions in reviewing their current policies and practices and in preparing for an on-site monitoring visit. More detailed information regarding specific laws applicable may be found at the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights website.  About OCR (ed.gov)  

For questions about the Kansas MOA Program, contact Tobias D. Wood, the postsecondary MOA Coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 785-430-4277.

Attachments:

• Kansas MOA Plan (PDF)
• Regions for MOA Plan Review (PDF)
• MOA: Methods of Administration Postsecondary Civil Rights Compliance Review On-Site Coordinator’s Manual – Nov 2023(PDF)

KBOR OER Discipline Liaisons serve as a resource for their discipline colleagues across Kansas Higher Education institutions. In addition to being a point of contact for their colleagues, liaisons lead community-building activities to support the use of OER within their discipline.

If you are a Kansas faculty member and are interested in OER adoption, please feel free to contact one of the liaisons by clicking a name in the table below.

If you are interested in serving as a KBOR OER Discipline Liaison, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

1. How is the completion of the Systemwide GE documented?

An institution that verifies that the student has completed all seven GE buckets shall note “KS Systemwide General Education Completed” on its official transcript.

2. If a student completed the systemwide GE at one institution and subsequently transfers, is the receiving institution required to put the “KS Systemwide General Education Completed” notation on its transcript too? 

The policy only explicitly requires the institution where the student completes the systemwide GE to include the “KS Systemwide General Education Completed” notation on the official transcript.  While the receiving institution is not required to post the transcript notation, it may also be helpful for the receiving institution to post the notation “KS Systemwide General Education Completed at (insert institution)” on its transcript to signal to academic advisors and registrar/records personnel that the GE was completed at a previous institution.  

3. What if an institution cannot put the “KS Systemwide General Education Completed” notation on its transcript for those students who have completed the systemwide GE?  

If this is a concern at your institution, please contact Academic Affairs at the Board Office as soon as possible.

4. When looking specifically at GE course credit, what is required when a student provides official documentation of Advanced Placement scores, CLEP scores, International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge International scores?

As detailed in Chapter III.18.b, state universities and participating coordinated institutions award credit based on students achieving requisite scores on Advanced Placement, CLEP, International Baccalaureate exams, and Cambridge International exams consistent, with the provisions established in the Board’s Credit by Exam policy, for general education courses in:

• the subjects detailed in the six discipline buckets; and
• any applicable subjects within the institution’s institutionally designated bucket. 

Unless an exception has been approved in accordance with the Credit by Exam policy, this requires institutions to award credit for an equivalent GE course or courses based on the following scores:

 Thus, in practice, this means:

The exceptions in which a higher requisite score is acceptable are detailed here.

A compliance report detailing the requisite AP, CLEP, IB and CI scores and the corresponding GE credit that a student is eligible for at each institution will be presented to the Board in Fall 2024. Thus, if institutions are not currently applying these requisite scores in awarding credit in equivalent GE courses, it will be necessary to make changes soon to ensure compliance.

5. What if a transfer student provides an official transcript from a Kansas public institution that includes at least one GE course that was earned through credit by exam? What does this mean for the receiving institution?

Once recorded on a Kansas public institution’s transcript, credit earned by exam in GE courses is transferable on the same basis as if the credit had been earned through completing the course(s) at the awarding Kansas public institution. When a Kansas public institution awards credit by exam in any general education subject detailed in one of the six discipline buckets, the receiving Kansas public institution shall not be permitted to require the transfer student to provide official copies of the exam scores.

6. Does KBOR expect Degree Maps for all of academic programs?  

Yes, guidance is detailed here.

1.  When would the receiving institution be permitted to exclude a systemwide transfer course from satisfying a credit-hour requirement in an applicable discipline bucket area?

A systemwide transfer course may be excluded from satisfying a GE requirement in an applicable discipline bucket when the student:

• pursues a major for which the Board President and CEO has granted permission to continue requiring – and not waive – a specific course requirement that is classified in the discipline bucket area; or 
• pursues a major at the receiving Kansas public institution for which the Board President and Chief Executive Officer has granted permission to deviate from the systemwide GE requirements;

2.  If a student did not complete the systemwide GE and transfers, can the receiving institution go through and check the transcript and apply the GE grading and performance course standards that all its native students are required to meet?

Yes.  When an incoming transfer student did not complete the systemwide GE, the receiving institution can apply the GE grading and performance course standards that apply to its native students.  Here are more specifics.

Grading 

• If a receiving institution requires all its native students to earn a “C” or higher in a specific GE course, it can require a transfer student who did not complete the systemwide GE to retake and ultimately earn a higher grade in such a course when he/she earned a “D” grade. 

Performance Courses (see the Arts and Humanities Bucket)

• If a receiving institution prohibits its native student from applying a performance course (e.g., piano I) toward the six-credit-hour arts and humanities bucket, it can enforce the same standard when a transfer student did not complete the systemwide GE.

Additionally, it should be noted that if the student is pursuing a program with a grade standard that is required to meet selective admission criteria or is necessary to meet programmatic accreditation or licensure standards, the student may be required to retake such a course and ultimately earn a higher grade.

3.  When a transfer student has not completed the Systemwide GE but has completed systemwide GE transfer courses, how will the receiving institution apply the systemwide transfer courses toward completing the GE buckets?

The Systemwide Transfer Courses by GE Bucket Resource identifies the systemwide transfer courses that apply in each discipline bucket.