A Best Practices Guide for Educators and Local Partners BiBigg IIddeaseas forfor BuildingBuilding LocalLocal CollegeCollege andand CareerCareer InitiativesInitiatives ▲ Success stories from across Texas ▲ Advice from students, counselors, and local partners ▲ Tips on how to make AchieveTexas work for your district Amarillo ESC (Education Service Center) Page 40 What Is This Guide? he AchieveTexas in Action Best Practices Guide collects some of the best of what Texas educators are doing to implement AchieveTexas, the state’s college and career initiative. This booklet is organized around the eight steps featured in the AchieveTexas Implementation Guide. Using the T Lubbock ISD color-coded map to the right, readers can find specific examples of Texas school districts that have Page 36 implemented the eight steps. The goal of the booklet is to provide educators and other AchieveTexas stakeholders around the state with step-specific, real-world examples of what their colleagues are Levelland ISD Page 23 doing to fulfill each step by featuring perspectives from students, counselors, and community partners. The core of AchieveTexas is the 16 career clusters (see back cover) that are divided into 122 programs of study. The programs of study provide a model of the courses and extended learning opportunities that secondary students should experience in order to prepare for more education or employment in a specific career. This guide is designed to spread the word about what schools are STEP 5: doing in implementing AchieveTexas, so that these best practices can spread across the state. Build Seamless Connections Frenship ISD Elizabeth Garcia (left) and Haley Shaw (right), seniors in the Page 24 Denton ISD, work together on an assignment during a meeting of El Paso ISD Lubbock-Cooper ISD a 911 dispatch course offered through the district’s Career and Page 16 Page 6 Technical Education (CTE) program. Socorro ISD Page 33 STEP 8: Offer Professional Development Upper Rio Grande College Tech-Prep Youth Consortium Page 39 Through hands-on training, students in Copperas Cove ISD’s Health Science program get the opportunity to learn an array of skills that can be used in a variety of careers within the medical field. C O N T E N T S AchieveTexas Programs of Study Page 2 Step 1: Implement AchieveTexas Page 4 Step 2: Span All Grades Page 9 Step 3: Implement TAPs Page 14 Step 4: Enhance Guidance Page 19 Step 5: Build Seamless Connections Page 24 Step 6: Establish Extended Learning Page 29 Step 7: Build Strong Partnerships Page 34 Step 8: Offer Professional Development Page 39 What Does That Mean? Page 44 AchieveTexas Resources Inside Back Cover Copyright © Notice The materials are copyrighted © and trademarked ™ as the property of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of TEA, except under the following conditions: Texas public school districts, charter schools, and Education Service Centers may reproduce and use copies of the Materials and Related Materials for the districts’ and schools’ educational use without obtaining permission from TEA. Residents of the state of Texas may reproduce and use copies of the Materials and Related Materials for individual personal use only without obtaining written permission of TEA. Any portion reproduced must be reproduced in its entirety and remain unedited, unaltered and unchanged in any way. No monetary charge can be made for the reproduced materials or any document containing them; however, a reasonable charge to cover only the cost of reproduction and distribution may be charged. Private entities or persons located in Texas that are not Texas public school districts, Texas Education Service Centers, or Texas charter schools or any entity, whether public or private, educational or non-educational, located outside the state of Texas MUSTB obtain written approval from TEA and will be required to enter into a license agreement that may involve the payment of a licensing fee or a royalty. For information contact: Office of Intellectual Property, Texas Education Agency, Room 2-186, 1701 N. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701-1494; phone 512-463-9270 or 512-463-9713; email: [email protected] Amarillo ESC (Education Service Center) Page 40 MAP KEY This book is made up of sections based on the eight suggested AchieveTexas implementation steps. Each step includes a lead story, big idea, and spotlights on students, counselors, and STEP 7: partnerships, all of which Build Strong Partnerships feature a Texas school district Motley County ISD Frisco ISD and can be identified using Page 41 Page 34 the color key below. STEP 2: Lead Story Span All Grades Frisco ISD Denton ISD Page 26 Hughes Springs ISD Big Idea Page 9 Page 5 Student Experience Spur ISD Coppell ISD Teacher Experience Page 11 Page 7 Birdville ISD Counselor to Counselor Page 31 STEP 3: Implement Texas Partnership Spotlight Achievement Plans Albany ISD Fort Worth ISD Irving ISD Page 8 Page 20 Page 14 Irving ISD Page 42 Duncanville ISD STEP 4: Page 27 Enhance Guidance Longview ISD STEP 1: Belton ISD Page 19 Implement Achieve Texas Page 32 Copperas Cove ISD Page 4 STEP 6: Establish Extended Learning Opportunities Georgetown ISD Temple ISD Diboll ISD Page 43 Page 29 Page 12 Lake Travis ISD Dime Box ISD Vidor ISD Page 35 Page 10 Page 38 Katy ISD Austin ISD Page 30 Page 40 Galena Park ISD Page 13 Smithville ISD Page 22 East Central ISD Page 18 Hitchcock ISD Page 37 Pettus ISD Page 28 Denton ISD senior Logan Callahan works on a milling machine during a meeting of “Computer Numeric Control,” one of several engineering courses available through the Calallen ISD district’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. Beeville ISD Page 15 Page 25 South Texas ISD Los Fresnos ISD Page 17 Page 21 Developed by A3 Creative Group, LLC (www.A3CreativeGroup.com) Programs of Study Helping Students and Parents Plan for the Future chieveTexas is the name of Texas’ Guidance Reform college and career initiative. “POS are the centerpiece of the AchieveTexas A The idea behind it is simple: Planning counseling system,” says Steve Frank, for the future helps students achieve lifelong Coordinator of High Schools That Work, a success. Through AchieveTexas, students have Southern Regional Education Board program the opportunity to follow programs of study designed to accelerate student achievement. (POS). They take courses, engage in extended “The POS, as well as the sequence of courses learning experiences, and, in effect, take that come with them, represent the basis for control of their future. To ensure that students comprehensive guidance reform in schools and parents/guardians are crafting the best and districts across the state.” plans possible, the AchieveTexas model calls Frank adds, however, that the key to for POS to be associated with one of the creating successful POS in a district or school 16 career clusters listed on the back cover of is aligning them with actual job opportunities this booklet. available in the local community. If a region boasts a large number of engineering Demeatrice Peters (left), a teacher at Denton companies, for example, schools in the area ISD, examines the inside of a computer with Programs of study are the should focus some programs on the STEM middle school students Blake Stewart centerpiece of the AchieveTexas (center) and Emily Muller (right). counseling system. cluster and create POS that reflect classes and activities that prepare students to enter Steve Frank, Coordinator, education or employment in the engineering High Schools That Work sector of the job market. “POS provide students with a tangible About AchieveTexas Tools for Schools product that will show them why they are Texas has created 122 programs of study sitting in a particular class,” Frank says. “A Concept: All students can succeed models to guide students to careers within student might, for example, take Advanced in school, career, and life if they the 16 career clusters. The POS documents Placement (AP) English if they plan to have their own individualized plans to are available for download from www. go into the Arts, A/V Technology, and success. AchieveTexas.org. They give Texas schools Communications cluster. Career planning and districts models from which to construct with POS helps students make the decisions individual Texas Achievement Plans (TAPs) for themselves.” Philosophy: No option is intrinsically for every student. better than the other. Whether the A sample POS of Information Technology choice is right or not simply depends is presented on the opposite page. Think of on the personal objectives of the this as a “menu” from which a student can student. choose courses and activities to complete a high school program in that subject. There are 122 “menus” for high school studies on Goal: To prepare students for all the AchieveTexas website. Each POS includes options after high school, including ideas for postsecondary studies, so that college, and to allow them to choose students can see where they are going after the postsecondary programs that are high school when they construct their TAPs. best for them. The POS forms a basis upon which each individual district can create POS documents related to a student’s interest or career goal. For more information: Although each district may have different Visit www.achievetexas.org, POS for its students, parents, counselors, and www.techpreptexas.org, or teachers to use, the common thread is the link www.careerclusters.org. with career clusters. A school might offer four Senior Brandon Teplansky (left) and senior different clusters, for example, with several Terilynn Cotton (right), students in the Frisco different POS within them. ISD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center, develop their knife skills during a meeting of a culinary arts course.