Innovative Courses

Innovative courses allow districts to offer state-approved innovative courses to enable students to master knowledge, skills, and competencies not included in the essential knowledge and skills of the required curriculum (Texas Administrative Code [TAC] Section 74.27). The State Board of Education (SBOE) may approve discipline-based courses in the foundation or enrichment curriculum and courses that do not fall within any of the subject areas listed in the foundation and enrichment curricula when the applying school district or organization demonstrates that the proposed course is academically rigorous and addresses documented student needs.

School districts and open-enrollment charters that wish to offer an approved innovative high school course are encouraged to reference the Innovative Course Implementation section of this webpage.

Stakeholders who are interested in submitting an application for a new innovative high school course are encouraged to reference the Innovative Course Application and Approval section of this webpage.

Authors of expiring innovative courses who have been invited to renew are also encouraged to reference the Innovative Course Application and Approval section of this webpage.

Innovative Course Implementation

This section is intended for school districts and open-enrollment charters that wish to offer an approved innovative course in their course catalog for students.

List of Approved Innovative Courses

With the approval of the local board of trustees, school districts and open-enrollment charters may offer any state-approved innovative course for state elective credit only. Innovative courses may not meet any other specific graduation requirement. LEAs do not need to apply to TEA to offer an approved innovative course. Innovative courses are approved to meet certain endorsement requirements on the Foundation High School Program.

• List of Approved Innovative Courses 2023–2024 (PDF)

Complete course descriptions and requirements are available for download in the list of approved innovative courses shown above or from one of the content-area pages listed below. Course descriptions include the knowledge and skills for the course, suggested activities, suggested resources and materials, and approved educator certifications. The lists have been updated as of August 14, 2023.

• Career and Technical Education
• Foundation (Bilingual/ESL, English Language Arts and Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies)
• Enrichment (Fine Arts, Health, Physical Education, Technology Applications)
• Other Electives

This section is intended for stakeholders who are interested in submitting an application for a new innovative course. Authors of expiring innovative courses who have been invited to renew are also encouraged to reference this section.

Rule Changes for Innovative Course Applications

In November 2023, the SBOE approved amendments to the rules related to innovative courses. Major changes include the following:

Application Materials and Supporting Documents

The Texas Education Agency is not accepting innovative course applications at this time.

Application Timeline for the 2025-2026 Cycle

To benefit both innovative course applicants and LEAs who wish to implement innovative courses, the timeline for future innovative course application cycles has been updated. The updated timeline is designed to provide additional time for the following:

• Applicants to complete applications
• Applicants to receive local board approval
• Applicants to complete course pilots and analyze data
• Districts and open-enrollment charters to plan for innovative course implementation

Courses that are approved will be available for implementation beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

The table below contains the updated innovative course application timeline:

Extenuating circumstances: Applicants who completed an innovative course pilot prior to the 2023-2024 school year and were planning to apply for the innovative course approval process in 2023-2024 for implementation in 2024-2025 should contact innovative.courses@tea.texas.gov no later than Tuesday, December 5, 2023.

Application Webinars

To provide guidance on completing the upcoming innovative course application and materials for the 2025-2026 cycle, the innovative courses team will be presenting a series of instructional webinars. These webinars are intended to highlight best practices for completing the application and answer any questions that interested applicants may have concerning the 2025-2026 cycle.

Interested applicants are asked to register in order to attend a webinar. The first webinar will be in February 2024.

Registration links will be posted soon. Seats are limited.

Questions related to innovative courses or the approval process may be directed to the Curriculum Standards and Student Support Division by submitting a TEA help desk ticket or contacting the innovative course inbox at innovative.courses@tea.texas.gov. 

Innovative Course Sunset Review Process

In November 2023, the SBOE approved a new requirement to conduct a biennial sunset review of existing innovative courses. As part of the biennial sunset review, existing innovative courses that fall under SBOE-adopted criteria will be considered for possible retirement. The adopted guidelines can be found in 19 TAC §74.27.

The timeline for the inovative course sunset review includes the following:

Sunset Report Rules

The following rules were adopted by the State Board of Education (SBOE) regarding the criteria of generating the biennial sunset review of existing innovative courses:

Texas Education Agency shall review all approved innovative courses once every two years and provide for consideration for sunset a list of innovative courses that have been approved as an innovative course for at least three years and meet one of the following criteria:   

• Zero enrollment for the previous two years
• Average enrollment of less than 100 students statewide for the previous three years
• Student enrollment at an average of fewer than 20 districts or charter schools statewide for the previous three years
• Duplicative of another innovative or TEKS-based course
• Approved for implementation as a TEKS-based course

Questions related to innovative courses or the approval process may be directed to the Curriculum Standards and Student Support Division by submitting a TEA help desk ticket or contacting the innovative course inbox at innovative.courses@tea.texas.gov. 

Additional Innovative Courses Resources

• November 2023 Webinar – Innovative Courses Update