Definitions

Adult

"Adult" means a person who:

1. Has completed the person's sophomore year of high school;

2. Is 17 years of age and has been awarded a high school diploma or its equivalent; or

3. Is 18 years of age or older, regardless of the person's previous educational experience.

Education Code 130.351(1)

Avocational Course

"Avocational course" means a course of study in a subject or activity that is usually engaged in by a person in addition to the person's regular work or profession for recreation or in relation to a hobby. The term includes a community interest course. Education Code 130.351(2)

Career and Technical

Education Course

A “career and technical education course” is a college-level workforce or continuing education course offered by an institution of higher education, including a college district, which earns either semester credit hours or continuing education units toward satisfaction of a requirement necessary to obtain an industry-recognized credential, certificate, or applied associate degree. Career and technical education courses are listed in the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM). 19 TAC 2.322(2)

Local Need Course

A “local need course” is a course that is not contained in the Workforce Education Course Manual database and for which approval is requested by a specific institution. A local need course, upon approval, is added to the institution's course inventory in the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) database for use in a career and technical education program. A special topics course is excluded from this definition. 19 TAC 2.293(4)

Special Topics Course

A “special topics course” is a course that is for temporary use or transitional content. A special topics course should be used only when course content and end-of-course outcomes do not exist in a career and technical education course contained in the Workforce Education Course Manual database. A special topics course may address recently identified current events, knowledge, and skills pertinent to the technical area and relevant to the occupational development of the student. 19 TAC 2.293(5), .322(7)

Workforce Continuing

Education

"Workforce continuing education" means a program of instruction that is designed primarily for adults and is intended, on completion by a participant, to prepare the participant to qualify to apply for and accept an employment offer or a job upgrade within a specific occupational category or to bring the participant's knowledge or skills up to date on new developments in a particular occupation or profession. Education Code 130.351(4)

Workforce Continuing

Education Course

"Workforce continuing education course" means a course of instruction in workforce continuing education that is approved by the Coordinating Board. The term does not include an avocational course. Education Code 130.351(5)

Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) Database

The “Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) database” is an online database composed of the Coordinating Board's statewide inventory of approved career and technical education courses available for institutions to use in industry-recognized credentials, certificates, and applied associate degree programs. 19 TAC 2.322(2)

Generally

All courses in the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) may be taught by any institution, including any college district, without prior approval by the Coordinating Board. Courses in the WECM are valid for institutions to use in career and technical education programs. Career and technical education courses contained in the WECM database are subject to the maintenance and approval provisions in 19 Administrative Code Chapter 2, Sub-chapter N.

Approved career and technical education courses remain in the WECM database until they are archived. An institution shall not use an archived course in a career and technical education program after August 31 in the year after archival.

19 TAC 2.323, .327(d) .328(d)-(e)

Local Need Courses

The Coordinating Board requires an institution, including a college district, to obtain approval of a proposed local need course for inclusion in the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) database and the institution's course inventory. An institution shall designate a proposed local need course as offering semester credit hours or continuing education units. 19 TAC 2.294(a)

Course Approval Process

A proposed local need course may be approved by the assistant commissioner if the course is administratively complete and meets all the requirements established by 19 Administrative Code 2.296.

If the assistant commissioner recommends denial of a proposed local need course or does not take action to approve the proposed course within 60 days of Coordinating Board staff's determination that the course proposal is administratively complete, then the proposed local need course approval will be subject to the process for commissioner approval. The commissioner's decision is final and may not be appealed.

Upon approval, a local need course will be listed in the local need course section of the WECM database and available to the institution for use in a career and technical education certificate or applied associate degree.

19 TAC 2.294(b)

Administrative Completeness

An institution must submit a fully completed application for each proposed course for which approval is required that includes each required element in 19 Administrative Code 2.296 and the required Coordinating Board form for the proposed course approval.

If Coordinating Board staff determines that the application is incomplete or additional information or documentation is needed, the institution must respond with all the requested information or documentation within 30 business days, or the request will be deemed incomplete and returned to the institution.

An institution may resubmit an application that was returned as incomplete as soon as it has obtained the requested information or documentation. This submission will be considered a new application.

19 TAC 2.295(a), (c)-(d)

Criteria

In addition to any administrative completeness criteria specified in statute or 19 Administrative Code Chapter 2 for approval of a proposed course, the assistant commissioner shall ensure the application satisfies the following factors:

1. There is no career and technical education course in the WECM database that has equivalent end of course outcomes to the proposed course.

2. The proposed course is designated as either semester credit hours or CEUs and assigned actual contact hours.

3. The submission for consideration of the proposed course is complete and includes:

a. The course title that is related to the course content;

b. A six-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code;

c. A course description;

d. The type of instruction;

e. Suggested prerequisite, if applicable;

f. A justification of the need for the course;

g. End-of-course outcomes;

h. Contact information for the individual authorized to request approval of the proposed course; and

i. Contact information for the individual who is authorized to respond to questions regarding the submission.

19 TAC 2.296

Workforce

Continuing

Education Courses

State Funding

Contact hours attributable to the enrollment of a student in a workforce continuing education course offered by a public junior college shall be included in the contact hours used to determine the college's allocation of state money appropriated and distributed to public junior colleges under Education Code Chapter 130 and Chapter 130A, regardless of whether the college waives all or part of the tuition or fees for the course under Education Code 130.354 [see GH]. Education Code 130.352

Waiver of Tuition and Fees

A public junior college may waive all or part of the tuition or fees charged to a student for a workforce continuing education course only if:

1. The student:

a. Is enrolled in high school or in a school that is not formally organized as a high school;

b. Is 16 years of age or older, who has had the disabilities of minority removed, and is not enrolled in secondary education; or

c. Is under the age of 18 and is incarcerated; or

2. The institution:

a. Determines all or a significant portion of the college's costs for facilities, instructor salaries, equipment, and other expenses for the course are covered by business, industry, or other local public or private entities; or

b. Offers the course in a federal correctional facility and the facilities, equipment, supplies, and other expenses for the course are funded by the federal government.

Education Code 130.354

Note: For contractual agreements for the provision of instruction executed with outside entities, including workforce education, see GH and GL.

Medically Related

Courses

The curricula of medical, dental, nursing, allied health, counseling, and social work degree or certificate programs shall:

1. Include information about methods of transmission and methods of prevention of HIV infection and information about federal and state laws, rules, and regulations concerning HIV infection and AIDS.

2. Give special attention to the physical, emotional, and psychological stress associated with the care of patients with terminal illnesses.

Education Code 51.919(e)

Career and Technical

Education Program

of Study Curricula

The Coordinating Board, with the assistance of institutions of higher education, career and technical education experts, and college and career readiness experts, shall establish alignment between the college and career readiness standards and the knowledge, skills, and abilities students are expected to demonstrate in career and technical education by establishing programs of study that:

1. Incorporate rigorous college and career readiness standards, including career and technical education standards that address both academic and technical content;

2. Support attainment of employability and career readiness skills;

3. Progress in content specificity by beginning with all aspects of an industry or career cluster and leading to more occupationally specific instruction or by preparing students for ongoing postsecondary career preparation;

4. Incorporate multiple entry and exit points with portable demonstrations of technical or career competency, which may include credit transfer agreements or industry-recognized certifications; and

5. Culminate in the attainment of:

a. An industry-recognized certification, credential, or license;

b. A registered apprenticeship or credit-bearing postsecondary certificate; or

c. An associate or baccalaureate degree.

A student enrolled in a board-established program of study who transfers from a public junior college, public state college, or public technical institute to another public junior college, public state college, or public technical institute that offers a similar program, regardless of whether the institution has adopted the board-established program of study, shall receive academic credit from the institution to which the student transferred for each of the courses that the student has successfully completed in the program of study curriculum. Unless otherwise required by the institution’s recognized accrediting agency, the student may complete the program of study at the institution to which the student transferred by completing only the remaining number of semester credit hours the student would need to complete the program of study at the institution from which the student transferred.

Education Code 61.8235(a), (f)