(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:
(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.
(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.
Source Note: The provisions of this §70.1005 adopted to be effective February 27, 2013, 38 TexReg 1163; amended to be effective April 7, 2015, 40 TexReg 1967