New cybersecurity courses available next school year
As part of the effort to create a well-developed area of study in the field of cybersecurity, the State Board of Education recently approved the creation of two new cybersecurity courses and tentatively approved revisions to a third course. These courses are proposed for inclusion in a cybersecurity pathway under the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) endorsement.
Cybersecurity focuses on protecting against the unauthorized or illegal use of electronic data.
The Texas Legislature in 2017 directed the board to select or create five courses to be used in a cybersecurity pathway under the STEM endorsement. At its recent meeting, the board gave final approval to TEKS for two newly developed courses called Foundations of Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Capstone. Both are one-credit courses that can be offered beginning with the 2019-2020 school year.
The board also gave preliminary approval to revised TEKS for the Digital Forensics course. Final approval for this course will be considered in June.
The board was scheduled to give final approval during the April meeting to a cybersecurity pathway that Texas students can follow to earn a STEM endorsement. Action was postponed until June in order for the board to address an unrelated issue in the same rule. The board does not intend to make any changes to the proposed cybersecurity option under the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) endorsement prior to final adoption at the June meeting.
The proposal calls for students interested in pursuing the cybersecurity pathway to take four courses in this area, including Foundations in Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Capstone plus two additional courses from among these options:
• AP Computer Science A; or
• Computer Science I; or
• AP Computer Science Principles; or
• Digital Forensics; or
• Computer Maintenance; or
• Internetworking Technologies I; or
• Internetworking Technologies II; or
• Networking.
The proposed requirements are available at https://tea.texas.gov/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=51539628940. Additions or revisions are indicated by underlined language.