Clear Creek ISD to add health-care P‑TECH at Clear Horizons; more applicants than slots

Clear Creek Independent School District trustees were briefed on plans to launch a health‑care Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P‑TECH) at Clear Horizons beginning in August 2025, district staff said.

The program will run alongside Clear Horizons’ existing Early College High School (ECHS). “No matter which program students are in at Clear Horizons, they will have the opportunity to earn up to 60 hours of college credit,” said Mister Cook, district staff member leading the P‑TECH presentation. He described P‑TECH as a three‑partner model based on district, college and industry collaboration: Clear Creek ISD, San Jacinto College and HCA Houston Healthcare.

The nut graf: district leaders said the P‑TECH is intended to give students industry‑aligned credentials and work experience that make them employable immediately after graduation, while preserving the ECHS pathway that focuses on earning an associate degree.

Under the plan presented, Clear Horizons will continue to enroll an ECHS cohort of about 125 students and add a P‑TECH cohort of about 30 students each year. Students in the P‑TECH health pathway will take Career and Technical Education (CTE) level courses (levels 1–3), pursue industry certifications and begin work‑based learning activities as early as 9th grade, with clinical and hands‑on patient opportunities in 12th grade.

Mister Cook said San Jacinto College is committed to offering up to four certifications for P‑TECH students: EKG technician, certified nurse assistant (CNA), phlebotomy technician and patient care technician (PCT). He said P‑TECH students would still be able to earn an associate degree but that the program’s emphasis is on “industry‑based certification so that the students will be employable immediately after completion of the program and graduation from high school.”

Miss Tidwell, principal of Clear Horizons Early College High School, provided the most recent enrollment interest figures: “So since January 7th, we have had over a 150 apply for the lottery, and over 50 of them have expressed interest in being on the P TECH,” she said. The application window opened Jan. 7 and closes Feb. 7; the district plans two lotteries and will publish applicant rankings by Feb. 12, with summer orientations and a bridge program before the August start.

Trustees asked how vacancies would be handled if students leave the program; staff said Clear Horizons will maintain a wait list (similar to the ECHS wait list) and typically refill slots at semester breaks, keeping a wait list through 10th grade to ensure continued eligibility for program requirements.

Board members also asked whether an HCA partnership would limit students to HCA employment. District staff said an agreement will give P‑TECH students priority interviewing with HCA but will not require students to work for HCA; the certifications are intended to prepare students for employment across the health‑care sector.

Ending: staff said the steering committee — with representatives from Clear Creek ISD, San Jacinto College and HCA Houston Healthcare — continues work on operational details and agreements and will return with further implementation information. Applications remain open through Feb. 7, 2025.