LOUISIANA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
OFFICE OF STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Bulletin
TOPS BULLETIN NUMBER: T2001- 05
DATE ISSUED: March 14, 2001
EFFECTIVE DATE: As Indicated
DISTRIBUTION:

Louisiana High School Principals and Counselors
TOPIC: Eligible Substitutes for TOPS Core Computer Science, Computer Literacy or Business Computer Applications

To assure that your Scholarship and Grant Policy and Procedure Manual remains current, please record this document on your TOPS Bulletin index and retain it with your manual.

School districts and/or high schools offering computer related courses that are not specifically listed in the TOPS Core Curriculum and who desire that those non-listed courses be considered as a qualifying substitute for the computer course requirements contained in the TOPS Core Curriculum, should submit those requests to the Office of Student Financial Assistance. Those courses will be reviewed by the Louisiana Department of Education to determine if they meet the TOPS statutory requirement that substitute course be "computer related". The Louisiana Department of Education will apply the follow standards in their consideration of a course as computer related:

Computers and related digital technologies are integrated in studies across a variety of curriculum areas. However, courses in Computer Education programs of study and courses that qualify as computer-related electives for the TOPS program are distinguished by content and instructional methods that have technology as the primary focus.

Specifically, all courses in the Computer Education program of study and all TOPS computer related electives must meet the following criteria:

1. The primary focus and content of the course is the investigation and use of multiple digital technologies*.

2. The primary strategies and activities of the course involve hands-on use of digital technologies*.

3. The primary outcome of the course is the application of digital technologies* in problem solving of real world situations.

*Digital technologies include, but are not limited to, the following type of devices: computers, digital cameras, scanners, and video conferencing equipment.

The above criteria was approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), in October 1999. Schools requesting substitution for computer education courses meeting the above criteria should submit a course syllabus to the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Scholarship/Grant Division, attention Core Substitution Section.