Curriculum Change Processes for Education Programs

Because education programs must meet both University and State standards, procedures above and beyond those required by the University are needed to ensure adherence to State standards.

Changes to State Standards

As of Spring 2020, state standards for education programs change every 5 years. This rotating schedule is published at Idaho - Department of Education . Once standards are updated and approved by the legislature, programs have 2 years to show that their candidates now meet those standards. In other words, at the time of approval of the standards changes, candidates who are Juniors and Seniors will not have to meet the new standards for 2 years but students graduating after that 2-year grace period would have to be meeting those standards.

This is challenging given BYU-Idaho’s commitment to allow students to stay on the course catalog year that applied to them at upon admission to the University (for up to 7 years). To give maximum time to programs as well as to candidates to adjust to the changes, the Dean of TPP informs the ECC of changes as soon as they are approved by the Board of Education (up to a year before the legislature gives final approval to the changes).

Programs must address how they are adjusting to meet the changes in the standards in their Annual Status Update for Education Programs or Program Review Outcomes and Assessments . These updates are reviewed by the Office of TPP to ensure programs are adequately addressing changes in standards. Any changes to the curriculum of the program due to standards changes should also follow the procedures below.

Changes to Education Programs

At times, education programs make changes to their programs that were not precipitated by changes to state standards. In these cases, it is also important to ensure that those changes will still allow the program to meet the necessary state standards. To this end:

1. Programs present their proposed changes to the ECC
   
   1. Program must show how the proposed changes still map to state standards and code.
   2. The ECC also addresses any effects the change(s) may have on other programs or departments.
2. The Dean of TPP also sees any changes to education programs in Kuali and approves such proposed changes based on if they will still meet state standards or negatively affect other programs or departments.

January 2021