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
LIsT basic
cluster. There are six programs within the
ChOOsE a career cluster on which to
information such as
Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
focus your high school and college or
your name and school.
cluster (see page 12).
postsecondary studies. The idea is to
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 Name:
Taylo
r jon
es
resources such as OsCAR (www.ioscar.
are available at your school. Schoo
l: sp
ringfi
eld H
igh s
choo
l
org/tx) to research your options.
Clus
ter:
arts
, a/v
Tec
hnol
ogy
& co
mmu
nica
tions
Prog
ram
of S
tudy
: jou
rnali
sm &
bro
adca
sting
Care
er G
oal:
rep
orte
r/co
rresp
onde
nt
Pos
tsec
ond
ary
Goa
l: ba
chel
or’s
deg
ree i
n jo
urna
lism
11th
grad
e
12th
grad
e
10th
grad
e precalc
ulus
PLAN for what you want to do after high school.
9th g
rade
algeb
ra II
Your goal may be to attend a four-year university
geom
etry en
glish
Iv
algeb
ra I
engli
sh III
or two-year college, join the military, or enter an
engli
sh II
ntal s
ystem
s
engli
sh I
phys
ics
envir
onme
apprenticeship program. Your postsecondary goal
chem
istry
nt/ec
onom
ics
should influence the classes you take in high school;
biolo
gy
u.s.
Histo
ry
gove
rnme
worl
d His
tory
for example, you will need certain course credits to
worl
d ge
ogra
phy
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
com
mun
icatio
n ap
plica
tions
fine
arts
Heal
th/pe
or e
quiva
lent
Tech
nolog
y app
licati
ons
pe or
equi
valen
t
medi
a Tec
hnolo
gy II
or
medi
a Tec
hnolo
gy I o
r
jour
nalis
m Iv
or
Intro
ducti
on to
med
ia Te
chno
logy
or
jour
nalis
m III
or
deba
te Iv
or
te III
or
jour
nalis
m II
deba career pr
epar
ation
skETCh out your schedule of classes for your
jour
nalis
m I o
r de
bate
I
or
care
er pr
epar
ation
deba
te II
high school years. Most of your time will be
spent taking your core academic courses. By

carefully selecting your electives, you can get
Curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
busi
ness
prof
essio
nals
of am
erica
(bpa
), fut
ure b
usine
ss le
ader
s of a
meri
ca (f
bla)
, skil
lsus
a
ob sh
adow
ing
the education and experience you need to start
Extr
acur
ricu
lar E
xper
ienc
es: a
rt or
ganiz
ation
s, dr
ama
/The
ater
club
s
olunt
eer c
enter
s
toward the profession of your choice. Career L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: c
areer
prep
arati
on—
paid
and u
npaid
, Inte
rnsh
ips, j
Tutor
ing/m
entor
ing p
rogra
ms, v
Serv
ice L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: a
rt or
ganiz
ation
s,
PICk extended learning activities that complement
A Career Portfolio (see page 15) is a
your classes (see page 14). Work on community
good way to organize information about your
service projects. Plan for paid and unpaid career
educational experiences, record results of
learning experiences, such as job shadowing and career interest and abilities assessments,
internships. All these extracurricular activities and hold examples of your best work.
can give you experience that will help you get into
Include a TAP in your portfolio.
college or land a job.
Page 5
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