WHAT IS A
TAP
?
A
TAP is a Texas Achievement Plan, and it’s a as your career and postsecondary education goals. Don’t
smart idea to create one to guide your studies worry. You aren’t locked into your choices. You should
through high school and into college or other revisit your TAP at least once a year to update it. You
postsecondary education or training. Your TAP can change clusters, programs of study, and career and
represents your plan to take control of your education postsecondary goals as your interests and ambitions
and career choices. Working with your parents/ change. Having a plan—even if it changes—is smarter
guardians and guidance counselor, you can pick the than having no idea of what you want to do and why you
cluster on which you want to focus your studies as well are attending school. Here’s how to fill out your TAP.
Pick a program of study within the cluster.
chooSe a career cluster on which to
liSt basic
there are seven programs within the
focus your high school and college or
information such as
Government & Public Administration cluster
postsecondary studies. the idea is to
your name and school.
(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
not all texas schools offer all clusters, so
tex
as
Ac
hie
vem
en
t P
lan
for which you would like to prepare.
ask your guidance counselor which clusters
Nam
e: Ta
ylor
jone
s
use resources such as oScAr
are available at your school.
Sch
ool:
west
High
sch
ool
(www.ioscar.org/tx) to research
Clus
ter:
gove
rnme
nt &
publ
ic ad
mini
strat
ion
your options.
Prog
ram
of S
tudy
: pub
lic m
anag
eme
nt &
adm
inist
ratio
n
Care
er Go
al: c
ity m
anag
er
Pos
tsec
ond
ary
Goa
l: ba
chel
or’s
degr
ee in
man
agem
ent
12th
Grad
e
11th
Grad
e
PlAn for what you want to do after high school. 10
th Gr
ade pr
ecalc
ulus
your goal may be to attend a four-year university
9th G
rade algebra
II
geom
etry
engli
sh Iv
or two-year college, join the military, or enter an
algeb
ra I english III
engli
sh II enviro
nmen
tal sy
stem
s
apprenticeship program. your postsecondary goal english
I
phys
ics
should influence the classes you take in high school;
chem
istry govern
ment
/econ
omics
biolo
gy
u.s. H
istory
for example, you will need certain course credits to orld
Histo
ry
fine
arts
qualify for admission to a college.
world
geog
raphy
w
lang
uage
s oth
er com
muni
catio
n app
licatio
ns
lang
uage
s oth
er
Than
engl
ish II
Than
engl
ish I
Health
/pe o
r equ
ivalen
t
Techn
ology
appl
icatio
ns
pe or
equi
valen
t
europ
ean H
istory
or j
roTc
Iv or

jroT
c II o
r bus
iness compar
ative
gove
rnme
nt an
d pol
itics
caree
r prep
aratio
n
or jr
oTc
III or
busi
ness
law
or
Sketch out your schedule of classes for your
jroT
c I or
Intro
ducti
on to
mana
geme
nt or
busi
ness
acco
untin
g II
busin
ess o
r owner
ship o
r bus
iness
high school years. most of your time will be
reco
rdkee
ping compute
r Info
rmati
on sy
stem
s
spent taking your core academic courses. by
carefully selecting your electives, you can get
Curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
busin
ess l
eade
rs of
ame
rica,
futur
e bus
iness
lead
ers o
f ame
rica
the education and experience you need to start
Extra
curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
com
muni
ty se
rvice
orga
nizat
ions,
stud
ent c
ounc
il
toward the profession of your choice.
Care
er Le
arnin
g Ex
perie
nces
: car
eer p
repar
ation
—pa
id an
d unp
aid, j
ob sh
adow
ing
Serv
ice L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: c
omm
unity
serv
ice, p
eer m
entor
ing, p
eer T
utorin
g
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
service projects. Plan for paid and unpaid career
your educational experiences, record
learning experiences, such as job shadowing and
results of career interest and abilities
internships. All these extracurricular activities assessments, and hold examples of your
can give you experience that will help you get into best work. include a tAP in your portfolio.
college or land a job.
Page 5
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