Back to School: High school endorsements, one year later

in 2013, the texas legislature made sweeping changes to the graduation requirements for high schoolers. we asked one of the smaller districts in el paso county about implementing house bill 5. abc-7’s ashlie rodriguez reports. in 8th grade a student will meet with a counselor — who will ask which endorsement path they plan on following in high school. there’s science technology engineering math — that’s stem. then there’s business and industry. there’s public service — arts and humanities. and multi disciplinary — a combo of all of them. say they want to go into stem. they would align their math, english and elective credits to get that endorsement. because this is a new texas requirement — only 9th and 10th graders will be asked to choose a path. but from now on, every 8th grade will sit with a counselor and talk about what they want to do in college. if they want to be a police officer– that’s a public service endorsement . or maybe they like finance — that’s a business and industry endorsement. we’re not pigeon holing the child. we’re giving the child the chance to create their graduation plan in 8th grade. student can change their mind mid-way. but cantuillo association superintendent annette brigham says at least their changing their mind now — before paying for college. the idea is that by taking classes in their field now — students will be more confident in college classes later — many even be knowledable enough to work in their field before graduating. we’re giving kids options for jobs that are going to be in their future, not jobs that were in our past. ar/abc7 county commissioners