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Off-Campus Physical Education
Learn how students can earn physical education credit outside of school.
Off-Campus Physical Education (OCPE) allows students who are developing advanced athletic skills to earn course credit. It also lets them be in a more specialized training program than our district offers.
Students taking OCPE:
- may not enroll in athletics or any other physical education courses while participating in OCPE
- can earn a maximum of one credit per year
Note: All students must earn one credit of Physical Education to graduate. A maximum of four credits of Physical Education can be counted toward state high school graduation requirements.
Credit options
Category 1
Students will be engaged in 15 hours of activity each week. Those in category 1 are eligible for late arrival or early dismissal.
Category 2
Students will be engaged in 5 or more hours of activity each week and must attend school for normal hours.
Participating in OCPE
All students who wish to earn physical education credits off-campus must:
- Complete and submit the Off-Campus Physical Education application by May 3, 2024.
*A completed application must include all signatures from the agency coordinator, parents, school counselor, and campus administrators before submission.
- Pay the OCPE application fee.
- Submit the completed application with the fee to the campus counselor for the upcoming school year.
*Approval for OCPE can only be given to students using 2024-25 TEA-approved agencies.
Students will be withdrawn from the OCPE program if:
- the student switches agencies during the school year and the new agency is not on the TEA-approved list.
- the Coordinator of Health and Physical Education was not notified of the change within 2 weeks.
Application timeline
- May 3: 2024-2025 OCPE Student Applications are due.
- June 7: TEA OCPE Agency approval form submitted.
- Aug. 12-23: New GISD students who enrolled after May 3, 2024, may apply for OCPE during the first two weeks of the fall semester.
OCPE Agency responsibilities
Agencies should apply for TEA acceptance using the TEA OCPE Agency approval form by June 7. Approved OCPE Agencies will be posted on the GISD OCPE Application.
Coordinators of OCPE agencies are required to submit OCPE student grades every 9 weeks through the OCPE Grade Report Form by the deadline. Agencies can lose their approved status through:
- failure to submit grades
- not reviewing/submitting documents
- not responding to communication from the OCPE Coordinator or campus in a timely manner
Campus counselor responsibilities
Send completed applications to LeeAnn Stephenson, Coordinator of Health & Physical Education.
Campus counselors must forward a received OCPE Grade Report to the appropriate person if another staff member is responsible for entering the grade in Skyward on a campus.
Contact us
For more information, contact us at:
Texas law and OCPE
Texas Education Code 28.025(b-10), and Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 74, Subchapter B authorize awarding physical education credit for student participation in appropriate private or commercially sponsored physical education programs.
House Bill 72 and Subsequent Legislation: Comprehensive References and Explanations (page 153) states that such off-campus education programs are essentially Olympic events where students spend significant amounts of time in training. The Commissioner of Education approves each school district’s off-campus physical education programs.