House Bill 5 (HB5), passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013, created new high school graduation requirements effective for the 2014-2015 freshmen class and beyond. This program is known as the Foundation Graduation Plan and is intended to offer students more flexibility in planning their path to graduation. Each student will meet with their career counselor to determine their own 4-Year Personal Graduation Plan (PGP).

Before entering 9th grade, each student and their parent/guardian are required to approve a 4-Year PGP,  which must include a program of study endorsement that promotes college and/or workforce readiness and facilitates the students' transition from secondary to post-secondary education. Students may change their PGP at any time by working with their assigned career counselor.

Each student can choose more than one endorsement area. To earn an endorsement, a student must complete 4 credits of math and 4 credits of science, plus 7 electives. The student also will take a coherent sequence of courses that consist of at least two courses in the same career cluster and at least one advanced course totaling four credits. The Academies tab explains our endorsements & programs of study further. The achieved endorsement will be noted on the student's high school transcript. Please refer to the course catalog for specific information about each course we offer at TSD.

Upon reaching the 11th grade (junior year), if a student and their parent/guardian feels that the designated program of study endorsement is not aligned with the student's academic & future post-secondary goals, they can opt-out of earning an endorsement. An opt-out form must be signed at the student's next annual ARD meeting. If you have questions about this, feel free to reach out to your assigned career counselor.