House Bill 5 Glossary of Terms

Foundation Plan: The FOUNDATION PLAN replaces the previous Minimum, Recommended and distinguished plans offered to students as options for graduation, and is the plan under which students entering high school during the 2014-15 academic year will graduate. The FOUNDATION PLAN expands the availability of career and technology (CTE) courses, and encourages students to select a personal pathway of study, called an ENDORSEMENT. All students entering the 9th grade in 2014 will be required to select an endorsement pathway.

Endorsement: the FOUNDATION plan offers students the choice of an endorsement, or targeted area of study. Much as a student would pick a major in college, the new option for an endorsement offers a student the ability to earn a total of 26 total credits (a combination of core requirements and endorsement electives) in a targeted area of study for high school graduation.

Coherent Sequence: The order in which classes must be taken to allow students to build their knowledge and skills

Electives: the student may choose any class offered at THS to satisfy this credit

CTE: Career and Technical Education

Advanced CTE course: the 3rd year or higher course taken within a coherent sequence. It requires students to have met the prerequisite knowledge need to be successful in this advance course.

Cluster: A career cluster is a group of jobs and industries that are related by skills or products. Within each cluster, there are cluster “pathways” that correspond to a collection of courses and training opportunities to prepare you for a given career.

Multidisciplinary Studies: the study of curriculum from different endorsement areas. Allows a student to select courses from the curriculum of each endorsement area and earn credits in a variety of advanced courses from multiple content areas.