WHAT IS A
TAP
?
A
TAP is a Texas Achievement Plan, and it’s a smart postsecondary education goals. Don’t worry. You aren’t
idea to create one to guide your studies through locked into your choices. You should revisit your TAP
high school and into college or other postsecondary at least once a year to update it. You can change clusters,
education or training. Your TAP represents your chance programs of study, and career and postsecondary goals as
to take control of your education and career choices. your interests and ambitions change. Having a plan—even
Working with your parents/guardians and guidance if it changes—is smarter than having no idea of what you
counselor, you can pick the cluster on which you want to do and why you are attending school. Here’s how
want to focus your studies as well as your career and to fill out your TAP.
Pick a program of study within the
choose a career cluster on which to
lisT basic
cluster. There are seven programs of
focus your high school and college or
information such as
study within the Agriculture, food &
postsecondary studies. The idea is to
your name and school.
natural Resources cluster (see page 12).
offer you a seamless route to follow from
high school, through college or other
postsecondary education, and into a career.
choose one or more occupations for
not all Texas schools offer all clusters, so
tex
as
Ac
hie
vem
en
t P
lan
which you would like to prepare. use
ask your guidance counselor which clusters
Nam
e: Ta
ylor
Jone
s
resources such as oscAR (www.ioscar.
are available at your school.
Sch
ool:
west
High
sch
ool
org/tx) to research your options.
Clus
ter:
agric
ultur
e, fo
od &
natu
ral r
esou
rces
Prog
ram
of S
tudy
: agr
ibus
ines
s sy
stem
s
Care
er Go
al: a
gricu
ltura
l fina
ncia
l ma
nage
r
12th
Grad
e
de
Pos
tsec
ond
ary
Goa
l: bo
okke
eper
cer
tifica
te, b
ache
lor’s
deg
ree i
n ag
ricul
tural
eco
nom
ics
11th
Gra
10th
Grad
e
ap st
atisti
cs
PlAn for what you want to do after high school.
9th G
rade al
gebra
II
geom
etry english
Iv
Your goal may be to attend a four-year university algebra I e
nglish
III
or two-year college, join the military, or enter an
engli
sh II
al sc
ience
engli
sh I p
hysics
ap en
viron
ment
apprenticeship program. Your postsecondary goal
chem
istry
cono
mics
should influence the classes you take in high school;
biolo
gy u.s.
Histo
ry
gove
rnme
nt/e
world
Histo
ry
for example, you will need certain course credits to wo
rld ge
ograp
hy
qualify for admission to a college.
lang
uage
s oth
er Th
an en
glish
I
lang
uage
s oth
er Th
an en
glish
II
comm
unica
tion a
pplica
tions
fine
arts
Health
/pe o
r equ
ivalen
t
Techn
ology
appl
icatio
ns
pe or
equi
valen
t
adva
nced
agrib
usine
ss
acco
untin
g or
caree
r
prepa
ration
icultu
ral
perso
nal s
kills d
evelo
pmen
t in
mana
geme
nt an
d ma
rketin
g an
d
Introd
uctio
n to w
orld a
gr
ibusin
ess
entre
prene
urshi
p in a
gricu
lture
agric
ulture
and
agr
scien
ce an
d Tec
hnolo
gy an
d
g or a
ccou
nting
and managem
ent a
nd m
arket
in
skeTch
appli
ed ag
ricultu
ral sc
ience
out your schedule of classes for your
Techn
ology
on
high school years. most of your time will be
spent taking your core academic courses. By
Care
er Le
arnin
g Ex
perie
nces
: car
eer p
repar
ation
—pa
id an
d unp
aid, I
ntern
ship,
Job
shad
owin
g
carefully selecting your electives, you can get
Curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
busin
ess p
rofes
siona
ls of
ame
rica (
bpa)
, futu
re bu
sines
s lea
ders
of am
erica
(fbl
a), Te
xas f
fa as
socia
ti
the education and experience you need to start
Extra
curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
farm
bure
au ex
chan
ge pr
ogram
s
a, co
mmu
nity s
ervic
e vol
untee
r
toward the profession of your choice.
Serv
ice L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: 4
-H, g
irl or
boy s
couts
of am
eric
Pick extended learning activities that complement
A Career Portfolio (see page 15) is a
good way to organize information about your
your classes (see page 14). work on community
educational experiences, record results of
service projects. Plan for paid and unpaid career
career interest and abilities assessments,
learning experiences, such as job shadowing and
and hold examples of your best work.
internships. All these extracurricular activities include a TAP in your portfolio.
can give you experience that will help you get into
college or land a job.
Page 5
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