This project will expand and strengthen our residential construction program by integrating a TEACHConstruction.org subscription into our learning management system as a supplement to the NCCER curriculum currently used in our classroom. The platform will provide additional digital lessons, visual demonstrations, interactive activities, assessments, and review opportunities that reinforce essential construction knowledge and strengthen the connection between classroom instruction, hands-on laboratory work, and real-world residential construction practices. Grant funding will also support the construction of a permanent, approximately 5–6-foot-tall residential demonstration model featuring staggered and partially exposed components including the foundation, floor and wall systems, framing, electrical wiring, plumbing, insulation, drywall, exterior finishes, doors, windows, ventilation, and roofing. This is so students both current and future even outside can see how each stage and trade contributes to a completed home. Together, the NCCER curriculum, TEACH Construction resources, and hands-on model will help students develop technical skills, safety awareness, problem-solving abilities, and career readiness while preparing them for industry certifications, apprenticeships, postsecondary education, and careers in the skilled trades.

Crosby High School’s residential construction program serves more than 100 students annually and is designed to prepare students for employment, apprenticeships, industry certifications, and continued education in the skilled trades. These students represent a broad range of backgrounds, academic needs, career goals, and prior experience with construction. Many enter the program with little or no familiarity with residential building systems and depend on the program to provide their first meaningful exposure to construction tools, terminology, safety practices, and career opportunities. 

The primary need addressed by this project is stronger workforce preparation through a more complete connection between curriculum, visual instruction, and hands-on application. The construction program currently uses the NCCER curriculum, which provides an established foundation in construction knowledge, safety, tools, materials, and industry practices. However, students do not all learn complex construction concepts effectively through text, discussion, and isolated shop activities alone. Residential construction requires students to understand not only individual tasks, but also how numerous systems - including the foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical wiring, insulation, moisture control, interior finishes, exterior finishes, ventilation, and roofing - must be installed in the correct sequence and coordinated with one another.

At present, students have limited opportunities to view all of these systems together in one permanent, accessible structure. Individual projects can teach specific skills, such as framing a wall section or installing a piece of drywall, but these activities do not always provide a clear picture of how that work connects to the complete construction of a home. Completed walls and structures also conceal many of the most important components students need to study. Once insulation, drywall, sheathing, siding, or roofing is installed, the framing, utilities, fasteners, barriers, and connections beneath those finished surfaces are no longer visible. This creates an instructional gap between learning about individual construction components and understanding the full building process.

The proposed residential construction demonstration model will address this gap by allowing students to see the stages and systems of a home simultaneously. The approximately 5–6-foot-tall mock residential room will include staggered, layered, or partially exposed sections showing the foundation and floor system, sill plates, floor joists, subflooring, finished flooring, wall framing, headers, electrical wiring, plumbing, insulation, drywall, exterior sheathing, weather-resistant barriers, siding, ceiling joists, rafters, ventilation, flashing, roofing underlayment, roofing materials, a window, a door, and, when feasible, a small sink or similar plumbing fixture. Instead of asking students to imagine what is behind a completed wall, floor, or roof, the model will allow them to observe how each layer is installed and how the systems interact.

The need for this type of instruction is especially important because construction is a major part of the regional economy. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands metropolitan area had approximately 175,890 construction and extraction jobs in May 2024, representing 5.4 percent of local employment compared with 4.1 percent nationally. The region included approximately 33,070 construction laborers, 24,650 first-line construction supervisors, 17,860 electricians, 11,150 plumbers and pipefitters, and 9,520 carpenters. These figures demonstrate that construction education can lead students toward a large and varied local employment sector with opportunities for entry-level employment, apprenticeship, specialization, advancement, and business ownership.

The TEACH Construction learning management system subscription will address an additional need by supplementing the NCCER curriculum with digital lessons, visual demonstrations, interactive learning activities, assessments, and structured opportunities for review. Students enter the construction program with different levels of reading ability, technical vocabulary, spatial understanding, confidence, and prior hands-on experience. A single method of instruction cannot fully meet all of these needs. Some students benefit from seeing a process demonstrated before attempting it, while others need repeated practice, additional visual examples, or the ability to review information at their own pace.

Integrating TEACH Construction into the classroom will provide another instructional pathway without replacing the NCCER curriculum already in use. The platform will reinforce essential concepts before, during, and after laboratory activities and help students connect technical vocabulary and construction theory to the work they perform in the shop. It will also support more consistent instruction when students are absent, need remediation, require additional practice, or are ready to advance beyond the pace of the larger class. The digital resources and the demonstration model will work together: students will learn and review concepts through the LMS, locate those components on the physical model, and apply the same knowledge during hands-on projects.

The target population includes more than 100 students each year who participate directly in the residential construction program. The project may also benefit additional students through program demonstrations, campus events, recruitment activities, career exploration, student showcases, and collaboration with other Career and Technical Education courses. Because the model will be durable and reusable, it will serve multiple class groups each day and new groups of students each school year. Over several years, the number of direct beneficiaries will grow to several hundred students.

This project is needed now because students must be prepared for a workforce that expects them to understand safety, construction sequencing, materials, terminology, measurement, teamwork, quality control, and the relationships among multiple trades. Employers need entry-level workers who arrive with more than a general interest in construction; they need individuals who can recognize building components, follow directions, communicate effectively, identify hazards, solve problems, and understand how their work affects the work of others. Providing this preparation during high school can help students make informed career decisions and transition more successfully into employment, apprenticeships, technical education, or industry certification programs.

Without this project, the program will continue to rely primarily on the existing curriculum, temporary demonstrations, individual projects, and the materials that can be purchased within the regular annual budget. While these resources provide value, they do not offer the same combination of structured digital reinforcement and a permanent, full-system residential demonstration. Grant funding will allow the program to move from teaching many construction concepts separately to presenting residential construction as a connected process from foundation to finished structure.

By combining the existing NCCER curriculum with TEACH Construction’s supplemental digital resources and a permanent hands-on demonstration model, this project will create a more visual, accessible, and workforce-focused learning environment. Students will gain a clearer understanding of how homes are built, why proper sequencing and coordination matter, and how classroom knowledge connects to actual work performed in the skilled trades. Ultimately, the project will strengthen technical competence, safety awareness, problem-solving, confidence, and career readiness for more than 100 students each year while helping meet the continuing need for a prepared local construction workforce.

The project will personalize learning by providing several ways for students to encounter and demonstrate the same essential knowledge. A student who needs additional repetition may pause or revisit a digital lesson, complete another practice activity, and then locate the relevant component on the physical model. A student who learns best through hands-on work may first observe the component and then participate in its fabrication or installation. A student who is ready for greater challenge may be assigned to interpret a drawing, lead a crew, calculate materials, inspect completed work, troubleshoot an intentionally created problem, or explain a system to classmates. These options allow students to progress toward common industry-aligned outcomes through supports and challenges appropriate to their readiness.

The project will also enrich academic learning by placing mathematics, science, reading, and communication skills in a practical context. Students will use fractions and measurement, calculate area and material quantities, interpret scale and dimensions, examine structural forces, study heat and moisture movement, read technical instructions, document their work, and communicate within a team. Applied CTE courses are intended to connect academic concepts to practical job experiences through hands-on logic and problem-solving, reinforcing academic learning while supporting student interest in career pathways. The Institute of Education Sciences similarly describes CTE as a means for students to gain academic, technical, and employability skills through career exploration, hands-on experience, and industry-recognized credentials.

Research supports the project’s combination of career-connected instruction and practical application. The Institute of Education Sciences notes that CTE allows students to apply academic knowledge to real-world problems through project-based, hands-on learning. Work-based and career-connected learning activities reinforce academic, technical, and social skills by allowing students to apply classroom theories to practical problems. A growing research base has also associated CTE participation with positive outcomes in academic achievement, college readiness, high school graduation, transitions to technical and community colleges, employment, and earnings. While the demonstration model is a classroom-based simulation rather than an actual jobsite, it brings many of the same elements into a controlled school environment: realistic tasks, industry terminology, sequential work, quality expectations, teamwork, problem-solving, and the integration of multiple trades.

Student learning will be evaluated through multiple measures rather than a single test. Evidence will include TEACH Construction participation and quiz results, pre- and post-assessments, performance rubrics, student surveys, completed assignments, NCCER-related assessments where applicable, photographs of project progress, and teacher observations. The teacher will review results by instructional topic to determine where students demonstrate growth and where additional teaching is required. For example, if students can identify framing members but continue to struggle with construction sequencing or moisture-management systems, future lessons and model-based activities will be adjusted accordingly.

Project success will also be measured by implementation outcomes. These will include successful integration of the subscription into the LMS, the percentage of students using the resources, completion of the demonstration model, the number of systems represented, the frequency with which the model is incorporated into instruction, and evidence that students can explain connections among systems rather than merely name isolated parts. At the end of the grant year, the teacher will summarize participation, assessment growth, student feedback, project completion, instructional strengths, and recommended improvements. This evidence will be shared with campus or district administrators to demonstrate the project’s value and support the request for continued funding of the annual subscription.

The proposed objectives are achievable and realistic because they build upon an established construction program, an existing NCCER curriculum, an equipped construction laboratory, and activities that are directly related to the courses students are already taking. The project does not require creation of an entirely new program or a separate instructional location. Instead, it strengthens the current program by adding resources that address identified gaps: more consistent digital reinforcement, additional visual instruction, and a permanent representation of how the components of a home function together.

Grant funding will therefore create both an immediate and a lasting impact. During the initial year, students will help construct the model while using the new digital resources to strengthen their understanding and skills. In subsequent years, the completed model will continue to support instruction for new groups of students, requiring only occasional repairs or updates. The TEACH Construction subscription will continue to provide current, reusable instructional materials, while project data will be used to seek inclusion of the subscription in the campus, department, or district budget and, when available, continued grant or community support.

By the conclusion of the grant-funded year, Crosby High School will have a more comprehensive residential construction learning system that moves students deliberately from instruction to visualization to application. Students will not only learn the names of materials and building components; they will see where those components belong, understand why they are installed in a particular order, practice the skills required to work with them, and explain how individual trades contribute to a safe and complete home. This combination of digital, visual, and hands-on instruction will improve student engagement, deepen understanding, support personalized learning, and provide more than 100 students each year with stronger preparation for skilled-trades education and employment.