Prosper ISD to offer new innovative career and technical courses in 2024-25

New Career and Technical courses will be offered to Prosper ISD students in the 2024-25 school year.

The inclusion of five new courses was approved by the district’s board of trustees on Dec. 11. The new courses include:

• Biomedical innovations
• Practicum in entrepreneurship
• Forensic psychology
• Retail management
• Team sports officiating

“I really appreciate the curriculum and instruction department [for] working closely with our teachers and staff to see what the needs were out there for [student courses] and CTE [courses],” Superintendent Holly Ferguson said.

The background

Students will be starting course selection for the next school year soon, Ferguson said. The new courses must be submitted to the Texas Education Agency as an innovative course which allows them to deviate from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, also known as TEKS, she said.

Innovative courses allow districts to offer courses that master skills and knowledge not included in the required curriculum, according to TEA officials.

The details

The five new courses are part of the district’s CTE program, according to the agenda.

• Biomedical innovations will be available to 12th grade students. The course will allow students to design solutions for health challenges and address topics such as clinical medicine, physiology, biomedical engineering and public health, the agenda stated.
• Practicum in entrepreneurship is available to 12th grade students and is intended to help students apply classroom knowledge to real-word business problems, the agenda stated. Students will be paired with local business owners and employers in their industry program of study.
• Forensic psychology will be open to grade 11-12 students and will apply psychology skills with criminal scenarios.
• Students in retail management will focus on the distribution and selling of products to consumers. The class will be available for students in grades 11-12.
• Team sports officiating is open to students in grades 9-12 and will focus on the rules and regulations of selected team sports. Students will learn communication, decision-making and conflict management skills, the agenda stated.