Friendswood ISD junior high and high school students will have the opportunity to take new and updated courses following board approval of the 2026-27 academic planning guides.

The overview

The guides outline courses and requirements for the 2026-27 school year, with several updates proposed across both campuses.

Many of the changes focus on career and technology education, or CTE, while others involve course renaming and program adjustments.

What’s new


For Friendswood High School, several new courses have been introduced, including:
  • Statistics
  • Musical theatre III and IV
  • Practicum in agriculture (plant science), which replaced advanced floral design
  • Advanced culinary arts
  • Entrepreneurship I
  • Practicum in entrepreneurship, which replaced entrepreneurship II
  • Medical terminology
  • Anatomy and physiology (human body systems)
  • Forensic science
  • Engineering project management
  • Aerospace design
  • Aerospace II
  • Rocketry II and III
Several existing courses were renamed, including:
  • Conceptual physics, which replaced technical principles
  • Practicum in agriculture (plant science), which replaced advanced floral design
  • Sports and entertainment marketing II, which replaced social media marketing
  • Fundamentals of computer sciences, which replaced Computer Science I
Additionally, the district approved new CTE programs in dental, medical coding and pharmacy.

The high school guides also updated off-campus eligibility for seniors, requiring students to have senior status with at least 20 credits, provide their own transportation and leave campus immediately after their final class, according to district documents.

The details

At Friendswood Junior High, new CTE courses and course replacements are available, including:


Eighth grade
  • Principles of agriculture, food and natural resources, which replaced Ag. Exploration
  • Principles of business, marketing and finance, which replaced entrepreneurship
  • Fundamentals of computer sciences, which replaced Intro to Coding
  • Introduction to engineering and robotics
  • Introduction to medical science, which replaced medical terminology
Seventh Grade
  • Career and college exploration
  • Intro to typing, renamed from Intro to Microsoft
Additionally, students must take conditioning/wellness or athletics for one full year in seventh or eighth grade. Students who plan to participate in a school sport are expected to enroll in athletics both years, according to district documents.