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 six programs of study
focus your high school and college or
information such as
within the Business, Management &
postsecondary studies. The idea is to
your name and school.
Administration 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:
Busi
ness
, ma
nage
men
t & a
dmin
istra
tion
Prog
ram
of S
tudy
: ma
nage
men
t
Care
er Go
al: B
usin
ess e
xecu
tive
Pos
tsec
ond
ary
Goa
l: ma
ster’
s de
gree
in B
usin
ess a
dmin
istra
tion
12th
Grad
e
11th
Grad
e
10th
Grad
e
preca
lculus
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
envir
onme
ntal s
ystem
s
engli
sh I p
hysics
apprenticeship program. your postsecondary goal
chem
istry e
cono
mics
should influence the classes you take in high school;
Biolo
gy u.s.
Histo
ry
gove
rnme
nt/
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
e or e
quiva
lent
Busin
ess c
omput
er Inf
orma
tion p
syste
ms I
Busin
ess c
omm
unica
tions
or
Health
/pe o
r equ
ivalen
t
Busin
ess l
aw a
nd Bu
sines
s
Indep
ende
nt stu
dy or
care
er
mana
geme
nt or
acco
untin
g
prepa
ration
or a
dmin
istrat
ive
Introd
uctio
n to Bu
sines
s and Business
mana
geme
nt an
d Bus
iness
II or
Busin
ess c
omput
er
proce
dures
or Bu
sines
s
skeTch
Keyb
oardi
ng or
Busi
ness ownersh
ip or
entre
prene
urshi
p or

I or
Busin
ess c
omput
er
Inform
ation
syst
ems
II
comp
uter p
rogra
mmin
g II
out your schedule of classes for your and T
echn
ical c
areer
s or accounti
ng
progr
amm
ing I
high school years. Most of your time will be
reco
rdkee
ping
or
word
proc
essin
g
spent taking your core academic courses. By
carefully selecting your electives, you can get
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
the education and experience you need to start
Curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
Busin
ess p
rofes
siona
ls of
ame
rica (
Bpa)
, dec
a, fu
ture B
usine
ss le
aders
of am
erica
(fBl
a)
, sch
ool n
ewsp
aper,
uIl,
Yearb
ook
toward the profession of your choice.
Extra
curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
lang
uage
Tuto
r, sch
ool c
lass o
fficer
Serv
ice L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: B
oys a
nd g
irls c
lubs
of am
erica
, Boy
scou
ts of
ame
rica,

outs
of am
erica
co
mmu
nity s
ervic
e vol
untee
r, girl
sc
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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