| (a) All electronic courses to be made available through
the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN) shall be reviewed and approved
prior to being offered.
(1) Each electronic course approved for inclusion in
the TxVSN shall:
(A) be in a specific subject that is part of the required
curriculum;
(B) be aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills (TEKS) approved for implementation in a given school year for
a grade level at or above Grade 3;
(C) be the equivalent in instructional rigor and scope
to a course that is provided in a traditional classroom setting during:
(i) a semester of 90 instructional days; and
(ii) a school day of at least seven hours;
(D) be led by a teacher who meets the requirements
of §70.1027 of this title (relating to Requirements for Educators
of Electronic Courses);
(E) be designed specifically for an online learning
environment, including instructional tools, assessment features, and
collaborative communication tools as appropriate;
(F) be aligned with the current International Association
for K-12 Learning (iNACOL) National Standards for Quality Online Courses;
(G) meet accessibility requirements established by
the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, §508, and TxVSN accessibility guidelines;
and
(H) ensure that each student enrolled in a TxVSN electronic
course takes any applicable assessment instrument required under the
Texas Education Code (TEC), §39.023, according to the standard
administration schedule and that each assessment is supervised by
a proctor.
(2) Secondary (Grades 6-12) science courses shall include
at least 40% hands-on laboratory investigations and field work using
appropriate scientific inquiry as required by §74.3(b)(2)(C)
of this title (relating to Description of a Required Secondary Curriculum).
(3) An Advanced Placement (AP) course must have documented
approval from the College Board as an AP course prior to submission
for TxVSN course review.
(4) If the TEKS with which an approved course is aligned
are modified, the course provider shall be provided the same time
period to revise the course to achieve alignment with the modified
TEKS as is provided for the modification of a course provided in a
traditional classroom setting.
(5) An online dual credit course to be offered through
the TxVSN shall be submitted to the administering authority for review
and approval prior to being offered.
(6) If the administering authority does not approve
an electronic course, a course provider may appeal to the commissioner
of education.
(A) A TxVSN course provider must obtain support from
the local governing body, as applicable, in order to appeal to the
commissioner regarding the administering authority's refusal to approve
an electronic course.
(B) If the commissioner determines that the administering
authority's evaluation did not follow the criteria or was otherwise
irregular, the commissioner may overrule the administering authority
and approve the course.
(C) The commissioner's decision under this section
is final and may not be appealed.
(b) A course approved to be offered through the TxVSN
shall be required to be renewed for approval under one of the following
circumstances, whichever period of time is shorter:
(1) in accordance with a schedule designed to coincide
with revisions to the curriculum under the TEC, §28.002(a); or
(2) not later than ten years from the anniversary of
the previous approval.
(c) A Texas public school district or charter school
may apply to the commissioner for a waiver of the course review requirement
if the school district or charter school certifies that courses they
will offer meet all of the requirements of subsection (a)(1) of this
section.
(1) A school district or charter school that receives
a waiver of this requirement shall ensure that students enrolled in
online courses that have not gone through the course review process
perform at a rate at least equal to that of the district or charter
as a whole.
(2) A school district or charter school that does not
maintain student performance at least equal to that of the district
or charter as a whole may be required to submit courses for review
as a condition of continued participation in the TxVSN.
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