How to make a four-year high school plan

Start with what Texas requires

Every Texas public high school student graduates on the Foundation High School Program. These are the credits by subject; one credit is a full-year course.

Classes of 2025–2029: Foundation High School Program with an endorsement, 22 credits, or 26 with an endorsement.

Not courses, but required: end-of-course exams; FAFSA, TASFA or an opt-out form; and opting in or out of direct admission on My Texas Future (every student enrolled in 2026-27).

Class of 2030 and later: the same credits, with one change. Social studies: students entering grade 9 in 2026-27 or later: US History, US Government (½), Personal Financial Literacy (½), and one credit of World History, World Geography or Economics. Foundations of Economics arrives in 2033-34; until then AP, IB or dual credit economics can fill that option.

Add an endorsement and the Distinguished Level

An endorsement is a focus area, a little like a major in high school. Texas has five: STEM, Business and Industry, Public Services, Arts and Humanities, Multidisciplinary Studies. It adds 4 credits, for 26 in all, and Texas asks students to choose one when they enter grade 9. Texas endorsements

Distinguished Level of Achievement: the Foundation program with at least one endorsement, including 4 science credits and 4 math credits with Algebra II. Public school graduates need it (or a qualifying test score) for top 10% automatic admission. Distinguished Level of Achievement

Plan it grade by grade

Every school orders courses its own way. What follows is a typical path, not a rule; your teen’s course catalog and counselor have the final word.

Grade 8

Your teen chooses grade 9 courses during grade 8, so read the endorsements together first. Some middle schoolers already take high school credit courses, such as Algebra I, and those can count toward class rank:

• Katy ISD: uses semester grades from high school credit courses in grades 7–12, failing grades included.
• Lamar CISD: semester grades from high school credit courses taken at any grade level count, including grades 7–8. Failing grades count.

Grade 9

Typical: English I, Algebra I or Geometry, Biology, a world geography or world history course, the first level of a language, and PE or a fine art. Advanced sections in your teen’s strongest subjects keep AP courses open later.

Grade 10

Typical: English II, the next math (often Geometry or Algebra II), a second science, a second social studies course and the second level of the same language. Some students take a first AP course this year.

Grade 11

Typical: English III, Algebra II or the math after it, a third science and US History. Most AP and dual credit courses fall in grades 11 and 12, after their prerequisites.

Grade 12

Typical: English IV, a fourth math and a fourth science for the Distinguished Level, the last social studies credits, and the courses that finish the endorsement. Admission offers can depend on final grades.

When course selection happens

Course selection is when the four-year plan becomes next year’s schedule, and each district runs it on its own calendar.

• Katy ISD plans next year’s courses in the spring. For 2026–27, parent course-planning webinars ran from November 2025 to January 28, 2026, courses went into SchooLinks in January, and counselors met each student one on one from February 2 to March 17, 2026. More on Katy ISD
• Lamar CISD chooses next year’s courses in the fall. Its 2027–28 course selection catalog, posted in October 2026, says students select courses in the fall, so the 2027–28 round is happening now. Ask your campus counselor for its exact dates. More on Lamar CISD

What changes by district

The state sets the minimum. Each district names its course levels, weights the GPA its own way and can add rules of its own.

See how a planned course changes your teen’s GPA by your district’s weights. Try the GPA calculator

A printable four-year plan template

Write each course in the grade your teen plans to take it, then check each row against the credits it needs.

Tips that save a rewrite

• Plan prerequisites backward. If your teen wants an AP course in grade 11 or 12, find what it needs and place those courses first.
• Leave an elective open. Interests change, and an open slot makes room for a new course without undoing the plan.
• Revisit it every year. Before each course selection, check grades, what’s next in each subject and whether the endorsement still fits.

Courses are one part of the four years. The college planning timeline, grade by grade

Pennantist builds this plan with your district’s own courses, draws the prerequisites that lead to each AP course and shows your teen’s weighted GPA by your district’s rules.