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 seven programs within
chooSe a career cluster on which to
information such as
the marketing, Sales & Service cluster
focus your high school and college or
your name and school.
(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:
mar
ketin
g, sa
les &
ser
vice
Prog
ram
of S
tudy
: buy
ing &
mer
chan
disin
g
Care
er G
oal:
sale
s ma
nage
r
Pos
tsec
ond
ary
Goa
l: ce
rtifie
d pr
ofes
sion
al sa
lesp
erso
n, ba
chel
or’s
deg
ree i
n sa
les o
pera
tions
11th
Grad
e
12th
Grad
e
10th
Grad
e precalc
ulus
PlAn for what you want to do after high school.
9th Gra
de
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 nvironm
ental
syst
ems
engli
sh I
phys
ics
e
apprenticeship program. your postsecondary goal
chem
istry
should influence the classes you take in high school;
biolo
gy
u.s.
Histo
ry
gove
rnme
nt/ec
onom
ics
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
busin
ess c
ompu
ter p
e or e
quiva
lent
Infor
mati
on s
ystem
s I
Heal
th/pe
or e
quiva
lent
care
er pr
epar
ation
II o
r
care
er pr
epar
ation
I
Indep
ende
nt st
udy o
r
profe
ssion
al se
lling

or b
usine
ss co
mpu
ter accoun
ting I
or
mark
eting
Your
self a
nd
and

Infor
mati
on s
ystem
s II o
r
e-co
mme
rce o
r
busin
ess
SkeTch out your schedule of classes for your pr
incip
les o
f mar
ketin
g or

adve
rtisin
g or

busin
ess l
aw a
nd
ng commu
nicat
ions
high school years. most of your time will be
reta
iling
and
entr
epre
neur
ship
fash
ion m
arke
ting o
r
Inter
natio
nal m
arke
ti
or In
trodu
ction
to b
usine
ss
serv
ice m
arke
ting
spent taking your core academic courses. By
or r
ecord
keep
ing
carefully selecting your electives, you can get
, sch
ool n
ewsp
aper,
Year
book
the education and experience you need to start Curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
busi
ness
prof
essio
nals
of am
erica
(bpa
), de
ca, f
uture
busi
ness
lead
ers o
f am
erica
(fbl
a)
toward the profession of your choice. Ext
racu
rricu
lar E
xper
ienc
es: a
cade
mic d
ecath
lon, c
ampu
s ser
vice
orga
nizat
ion
Caree
r Lea
rnin
g Ex
peri
ence
s: ca
reer
prep
arati
on—
paid
and u
npaid
, Job
sha
dowi
ng, In
terns
hips,
scho
ol-ba
sed e
nterp
rise
Serv
ice L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: b
oy sc
outs,
boys
and
girls
club
of a
meri
ca, c
omm
unity
serv
ice v
olunt
eer, g
irl sc
outs
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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