1. (a) The duties of each member of a state review panel are to:

   1. (1) evaluate all instructional materials submitted for adoption in each subject assigned to the panel to determine if essential knowledge and skills are covered in the student version of the instructional materials as well as in the teacher version of the instructional materials. All portions of instructional materials must be reviewed by at least two panel members for the purpose of this review. Nothing in this rule shall be construed to contravene the Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.004(e)(5), which makes coverage of contraception and condom use optional in both the student and teacher editions of health instructional materials. Panel members will use State Board of Education (SBOE)-approved procedures for evaluating coverage of the essential knowledge and skills. Coverage must be identified at least once in the student text narrative or its electronic equivalent and once in either an end-of-section review exercise, an end-of-chapter activity, or a unit test or their electronic equivalents. The approved procedures include the following.

      1. (A) State review panel members must participate in training to ensure clear and consistent guidelines for determining full Texas essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) coverage within the instructional materials.
      2. (B) State review panel members must participate in a team during the review and reach a consensus, or a simple majority if the panel members are unable to reach consensus, to determine whether the TEKS have been covered sufficiently in the instructional materials.
      3. (C) Instructional materials shall be evaluated for TEKS coverage at each grade level.

      4. (D) A student expectation may be considered sufficiently covered only if the instructional materials provide one of the following:

         1. (i) an opportunity for the teacher to teach each component of the knowledge or skill in the teacher material;
         2. (ii) an opportunity for the student to learn each component of the knowledge or skill in the student material or the teacher material; or
         3. (iii) an opportunity for the student to demonstrate each component of the knowledge or practice each component of the skill in the student material or the teacher material.
      5. (E) Student expectations are not considered covered if only included in side bars, captions, or questions at the end of a section or chapter.
      6. (F) Each student expectation must be clearly evident in the instructional materials to ensure sufficient coverage.
      7. (G) Student expectations that contain the word "including" reference content that must be covered in instructional materials, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples and are not required to be covered in instructional materials.
   2. (2) make recommendations, through the submission of a consensus report, or, if necessary, majority and minority reports that reflect the opinions of all panel members listed by team role, to the commissioner of education that each submission assigned to be evaluated by the state review panel be placed on the adopted list or rejected;
   3. (3) submit to the commissioner of education a list of any factual errors in instructional materials discovered during the review conducted by the state review panel through the submission of a consensus report, or, if necessary, majority and minority reports that reflect the opinions of all panel members listed by team role, to determine what factual errors have been discovered; and
   4. (4) as appropriate to a subject area and/or grade level, ascertain that instructional materials submitted for adoption do not contain content that clearly conflicts with the stated purpose of the TEC, §28.002(h).
2. (b) State review panel members shall not accept meals, entertainment, gifts, or gratuities in any form from SBOE members; publishers, authors, or depositories; agents for publishers, authors, or depositories; any person who holds any official position with publishers, authors, depositories, or agents; or any person or organization interested in influencing the selection of instructional materials.
3. (c) Before presenting recommendations to the commissioner of education, state review panel members shall be given an opportunity to request a meeting with a publisher to obtain responses to questions regarding instructional materials being evaluated by the state review panel. Questions shall be provided to publishers in advance of the meeting.
4. (d) State review panel members shall be afforded the opportunity to collaborate with other panel members during the official virtual and face-to-face reviews to discuss coverage of TEKS, errors, manufacturing specifications, or any other aspect of instructional materials being evaluated. A member of a state review panel shall have no contact with other members of the panel regarding the instructional materials being reviewed, except during official virtual and face-to-face reviews. State review panel members shall not discuss instructional materials being evaluated with a member of the SBOE or with any party having a financial interest in the adoption of instructional materials prior to the conclusion of the review.
5. (e) State review panel members participating in the face-to-face review shall affix their signatures to all recommendations to the commissioner of education. State review panel members participating in the virtual review shall submit their recommendations electronically through email, which will serve as their electronic signatures.
6. (f) Members of each state review panel may be required to be present at the State Board of Education meeting at which instructional materials are adopted.

Source Note:The provisions of this §66.36 adopted to be effective September 1, 1996, 21 TexReg 7236; amended to be effective March 4, 2001, 26 TexReg 1706; amended to be effective October 12, 2006, 31 TexReg 8354; amended to be effective December 25, 2007, 32 TexReg 9611; amended to be effective February 22, 2010, 35 TexReg 1454; amended to be effective July 8, 2012, 37 TexReg 4911; amended to be effective March 13, 2014, 39 TexReg 1709.