Implementation of Veterinary Science Certificate Program in High School
This program has been developed for high school agricultural and health science teachers. Adoption of the Veterinary Science Certificate Program (VSCP) in Career and Technical Education (CTE) is highly encouraged. A career pathway has been designed for implementation of the curriculum and apprenticeship for clinical and nonclinical career tracks.
Resources
Print and web-based curriculum resources may be found on this website under the Books & Resources on the home ribbon.
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Bookstore handles print editions.
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service handles enrollment, payment, and is the host site for the web-based curriculum.
VS: Teacher Resources: ($150 annual subscription): This resource is intended for use with the print and/or web-based VS: Teacher-Assisted Curriculum. Teachers pay and receive a subscription for this resource and receive a one-year enrollment.
VS: Teacher-Assisted Curriculum ($1,100 annual subscription): This course is customized for each school. Once payment is received, purchaser will receive a receipt of payment along with instructions to contact vetscience@ag.tamu.edu by email to setup their personalized curriculum. Each teacher may then enroll an unlimited number of students. This is a fully contained, automated curriculum that includes all individual lessons, teacher-led videos, printable note sheets, and automated quizzes in modular format. Web-based curriculum is also available for the One Health and Laboratory (nonclinical) tracks.
The clinical track curriculum contains 75 core lessons, 25 clinical lessons along with lesson questions and activities. The clinical apprenticeship requires a minimum of 225 clinical skill hours based on work assignments from the on-the-job training site. Ag science teacher are able to offer 200 hours in the classroom.
Completion of Program and Certification Eligibility – Clinical Track
Students need to complete the following items in any order and timeline during their high school career
1. 200 coursework/education hours in a classroom program
2. 225clinical skill hours in veterinary practice/co-op program
3. 100 VSCP Clinical Skills Checklist
The clinical veterinary science curriculum may be taught under the approved TEA course, Veterinary Medical Applications for 1 credit. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) curriculum standards are posted on the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website.
- Crosswalk to VSCP courses:
- Principles of Health Science; Medical Terminology; Health Sciences; Practicum in Health Sciences; Anatomy and Physiology; Medical Microbiology; Pathophysiology; World Health Research
- Livestock Production; Small Animal Management; Equine Science; Advanced Animal Science; Principles of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
Program Certificates Issued by the High School
The high school may issue the following certificates:
- Completion of Program (Veterinary Assistant classification) for completion of both the curriculum and apprenticeship
- Completion of Curriculum (without classification) for completion of curriculum only
Additional Career Tracks
The VSCP can be expanded beyond the clinical track to include two nonclinical tracks:
- One Health Veterinary Science Curriculum and Apprenticeship – 25 lessons/10 activities
- Laboratory Veterinary Science Curriculum and Apprenticeship – 25 lessons/10 activities
The apprenticeship requirement is 500 skill hours in the classroom and workforce co-op for student to receive Veterinary Assistant (VA) classification.
Clinical Veterinary Assistant Certificate
Students who meet the requirements for the clinical veterinary assistant certificate are eligible to sit for the examination through Agrilife Learn.