1. Academic Achievement Record
(Transcript)

2. What is the AAR?
The Academic Achievement Record (AAR) is the record of a student's academic achievement for their diploma program. This is also known as a transcript. There are specific guidelines for the minimum which needs to be recorded on the AAR.  Transcripts may be issued as official or unofficial depending upon the request circumstances. 

5. How does the AAR relate to colleges?
The AAR is a record to colleges of what a student has taken in high school as well as their GPA and testing history. Colleges request official copies directly from a school district and are responsible for obtaining authority to do so. 

6. Texas Administrative Code
TITLE 19
EDUCATION
PART 2
TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY
CHAPTER 74
CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS
SUBCHAPTER A
REQUIRED CURRICULUM
Texas Administrative Code

7. Texas Administrative Code

8. (a) The commissioner of education shall develop and distribute to each school district and institution of higher education the state guidelines for a common academic achievement record and coding system for courses and instructions for recording information on the academic achievement record. Each school district must use the coding system provided by the commissioner.
(b) Following guidelines developed by the commissioner, each school district must use an academic achievement record (transcript) form that includes the following:
(1) student demographics;
(2) school data;
  (3) student data; and
  (4) the record of courses (taken) and credits earned.

9. (c) The academic achievement record shall serve as the academic record for each student and must be maintained permanently by the district. Each district must ensure that copies of the record are made available for a student transferring from one district to another. To ensure appropriate placement of a transfer student, a district must respond promptly to each request for student records from a receiving school district.
(d) Any credit earned by a student must be recorded on the academic achievement record, regardless of when the credit was earned.
(e) A student who completes high school graduation requirements shall have attached to the academic achievement record a seal approved by the SBOE.

10. (f) A student who completes the requirements for an endorsement shall have the endorsement clearly indicated on the academic achievement record.
(g) A student who earns a performance acknowledgment shall have the performance acknowledgment clearly indicated on the academic achievement record.
(h) A student who earns the distinguished level of achievement shall have the distinguished level of achievement clearly indicated on the academic achievement record.

11. (i) A student who completes all graduation requirements except for required end-of-course assessment instruments may be issued a certificate of coursework completion. The academic achievement record will include a notation of the date such a certificate was issued to the student.
Source Note: The provisions of this §74.5 adopted to be effective June 18, 2014, 39 TexReg 4652; amended to be effective May 24, 2016, 41 TexReg 3689

12. 2017-2018 TREx version 4.5 Data Standards Section 1 – Requirements and Overview
Please be aware if you are sending a transcript to a college or university on behalf of a student who is applying for college admission, most Texas public colleges require the following information as part of their admission process. Although Exit Level TAKS or STAAR® EOC scores will not appear on the transcript, the scores will be transmitted electronically to the college or university through the SPEEDE server if they are populated on the xml file.
Class Size
Class Rank
Date of Class Rank
Date of Graduation
Exit Level TAKs or STAAR® EOC score by Subject

13. High School Transcripts
A high school transcript record in TREx refers to the official high school transcript or academic achievement record (AAR) for Grades The transcript is an official and permanent record of a student's academic performance during high school and, in some cases, of high school courses completed in middle school or junior high school (TEC §28.025(e)).
When the request is an outbound type (a high school student requesting a transcript be sent to a college), the exiting registrar uploads the student’s high school transcript to TREx via an extract file of data from the local student information system and selects the college.
Sending districts and campuses certify the content of the high school transcript data by electronically signing the "Registrar’s Statement of Approval" available in TREx. The electronic signature certifies that the district has taken measures to verify the accuracy and the authenticity of the data in the high school transcript.

14. As with student records, registrars have the ability to manually enter transcripts in TREx if the data are not available in the local student information system.
Note: The campus or district procedures for how high school students request a transcript be sent to a college or university remain unchanged; only the means by which the request is fulfilled changes with the implementation of the TREx system.
An interface into TREx from authorized external applications such as ApplyTexas has been added. A student using such an application may create an electronic request for a transcript to be sent to a college or university. The resulting request is placed in the student’s high school campus TREx inbound request queue. The high school registrar may then process this request in the same manner as if the request was made by the student in person.
TREx presents the transcript in the required standard AAR format with the approved graduation seal.
TREx transmits the high school transcript to the NSC SPEEDE server, which then transmits it to a designated server at the receiving college or university.
Note: TREx includes a campus/district transcript legend option that creates a pdf, which can be attached to all transcript records. Since there is no national standard for transmission of the pdf file format and public colleges and universities in Texas are not prepared to receive such a file via the NSC SPEEDE Server, this document should not be transmitted through TREx to the NSC SPEEDE Server.

17. HB 5 Speech Requirement

18. TAC CPR Requirement

19. PEIMS AAR

25. POST SECONDARY (CURRENTLY PEIMS ONLY)

29. How long is my district required to keep student records on file?
Academic records for students in grades PreK – 8 (a.k.a. cumulative records) are to be kept for 5 years from the date of withdrawal. Academic records for students in 9-12 are to be kept permanently. There are various rules on specific records.

30. Key Questions for a Counselor
What is the record keeping system for my district? When will I receive training? 
What method is used for electronic record keeping and paper based record keeping? 
What format does my district use for the AAR? 
Who handles the procedure for transcripts? What is my role? 

32. Additional information regarding the Speech Requirement and CPR instruction
Please consider as a best practice to include the information about CPR if your software allows. This way if a student transfers to another school, the completion of the CPR requirement is included in their student records.
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