Day 1: Graduation and Assessment Decisions

Daily Learning Contract

• Topic: Academic Transitions
• Objective: Students will describe the current Texas graduation framework and analyze how different assessments can affect graduation, placement, admission, scholarships, career exploration, or military options.
• TEKS: d(3)(A), d(3)(E)
• Demonstration of Learning: Completed High School Transition and Assessment Decisions packet.

Lesson Overview

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: Write one question you have about high school and one choice you think students must make before Grade 9.

Stop and Jot: Give students 90 seconds. Read for scheduling, belonging, assessment, and pathway questions. Use the most common category to introduce the day's first example.

Activity 1: Read the Current Graduation Framework (12 min)

Current source: TEA Chapter 74, Subchapter B: Graduation Requirements, August 2026

Use current §§74.12-74.13. Students record the two planning levels in Section 1 of their packet:

• The foundation plan requires at least 22 credits: 4 English, 3 math, 3 science, 3 social studies, 2 languages other than English, 1 physical education, 1 fine arts, and 5 electives.
• A plan with an endorsement totals 26 credits and adds a fourth math credit, a fourth science credit, two electives, and the endorsement requirements.

Beginning with students entering Grade 9 in 2026-2027, the three social studies credits include one credit in U.S. History, one-half credit in U.S. Government, one-half credit in Personal Financial Literacy, and one credit selected from World History, World Geography, or Foundations of Economics. Current Grade 8 students enter high school after that start date, so the rule applies to their planning. The 2025 Graduation Toolkit uses the prior-cohort economics wording and may be shown only to teach why students keep the cohort and source date with a rule.

The toolkit is a statewide baseline. Irving ISD course names, local graduation decisions, substitutions, and a student's individual plan still require current district guidance.

Ask students to explain why a student should check both the state framework and the local coursebook. Accept answers that distinguish graduation rules from local course names, prerequisites, and availability.

Activity 2: Connect a Direction to an Endorsement Question (10 min)

Students use the career direction from their Week 1 Mid-Year Career Blueprint. They record one possible endorsement and one question they need to verify.

Do not give students a fixed pathway-to-endorsement chart. A program may support more than one endorsement route, and current local guidance controls the student's plan. Model the difference:

• Unsupported claim: "Cybersecurity is always STEM."
• Counseling-ready statement: "Cybersecurity may support a STEM or Business and Industry route. I will verify the current Irving sequence and endorsement with a counselor."

Students write:

1. current career direction;
2. possible endorsement;
3. evidence or source used; and
4. one question for a counselor.

Activity 3: What Does This Assessment Affect? (18 min)

Clarify that the tests and credentials serve different jobs:

• STAAR End-of-Course assessments: part of Texas high school graduation requirements, subject to current state rules and approved alternatives.
• PSAT: practice and feedback for college-readiness planning; some administrations connect to scholarship programs.
• SAT and ACT: admission or scholarship evidence when a college or program uses the score.
• TSIA: one way Texas institutions determine college readiness and course placement; exemptions and alternatives exist.
• ASVAB: career exploration and, in an enlistment process, military qualification and job options.
• Industry certification assessment: evidence tied to a specific credential. It is not a general college-admission test.

Students complete the two packet scenarios. For each one, they identify:

1. the assessment or result the student should learn more about;
2. the decision the result may affect;
3. one next step; and
4. one fact that still needs verification.

The packet's decision bank replaces a separate assessment-card set. The four-question Canvas Quiz is optional practice or recovery; the 50-minute core route ends with the packet exit check.

DOK 3: A student wants both a technical certificate and the option to transfer to a university later. Which assessment questions should the student ask before choosing classes, and why is one test not enough to plan the whole route?

Exit Ticket (5 min)

EXIT TICKET (Mini-Case) · Printable PDF:

Jordan says, "The SAT, TSIA, and an industry certification are all college entrance tests, so I only need to prepare for one."

1. Identify one incorrect part of Jordan's claim.
2. Explain one different decision each of two assessments may affect.
3. Name the current source or person Jordan should use to verify the requirement.

During the exit lap, record formative completion. Students keep the packet in their CCR Week 2 folder because Day 5 uses it as source evidence.

(d(3)(E))

Differentiation

• Support: Have students point to one term in the packet decision bank before they use the complete frame: “ may affect , but it does not decide ___.”
• Extension: Research one current exemption, alternative, or receiving-institution policy and record the source date.
• ELL: Use the labels graduation, admission, placement, scholarship, career exploration, military qualification, and credential. Students may point to or sort the labels before writing two short sentences.