The Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics (TDL) Career Cluster overlaps with many others including Marketing, Business Management and Administration, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and Manufacturing. Careers in the TDL cluster focus on transporting people and products from point A to point B in a safe, cost-effective, timely manner. This career cluster also includes the design, planning, production, operation, maintenance, and marketing of transportation equipment and systems.

Career Pathways
Instructional content for the TDL Career Cluster is divided into six career pathways:

• Aircraft Technology
• Automotive Technology
• Collision Repair and Refinishing
• Small Engine Technology
• Transportation Systems Management
• Logistics, Planning, and Management Systems

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Teacher Resources

To help students learn more about TDL careers, download and distribute the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics College and Career Planning Guide. The guide makes an excellent critical reading assignment for students enrolled in a practicum course in this career cluster.

The Practicum in TDL course is a capstone experience for students participating in a coherent sequence of courses, and may include a paid or unpaid WBL experience. It is designed to give students supervised practical application of knowledge and skills and can occur in a variety of locations. Be sure to review the related TEKS before you create the outline of training.

Because the TDL cluster covers a wide range of careers, be sure to work closely with training sponsors to pull TEKS from other TDL courses or related courses in other clusters. In some cases, you and the training sponsor will need to develop entirely new TEKS specific to the work performed at the training station.

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Take a moment to bookmark the TEKS for Transportation, Distribution and Logistics.

To enroll in the Practicum for TDL, students should be in grade 11 or 12 and participating in a coherent sequence of courses. There are no course prerequisites.

Safety and legal considerations for this cluster are highly dependent on the nature of the work-experience and training station. While the TDL practicum can be taught as an independent study, mentorship, internship, or laboratory, the most common form is an automotive laboratory or auto shop class in which the teacher provides both the classroom instruction and the laboratory training; individual training plans are not required in this situation. As part of the class, the teacher is responsible for instructing students on general and occupation-specific safety considerations.

For practicums taken as an independent study, mentorship, or internship, students should research and report on industry and occupation-specific safety and legal considerations to understand all aspects of the industry they are considering as a career.

To promote educational excellence in career and technical education, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) launched the Texas CTE Resource Center.

 

 

 

 

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Take a moment to bookmark the Texas CTE Resource Center website. Later, be sure to explore curriculum guidelines and instructional resources for the AFNR Career Cluster.

Career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) provide students with additional opportunities to acquire and demonstrate skills and abilities related to their chosen career field. The CTSO that most closely relates to TDL careers is SkillsUSA Texas. However, depending on the students' interests, several other CTSOs might be more closely related. Become familiar with them all so you can help students select the organization that best supports their career goals.

 

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Take a few moments to bookmark the SkillsUSA Texas website to explore later.

Get involved in at least one career and technical education (CTE) professional association. They are excellent sources of career cluster-specific teaching tools, ideas, networking, and mentors.

The professional association that most closely relates to TDL careers is the Texas Industrial Vocational Association (TIVA), but there are several others that may interest you as well. You may also want to check with your colleagues for advice.

 

 

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Take a few moments to bookmark the CTE professional association websites below to explore later.

Texas Industrial Vocational Association (TIVA)
Marketing Educators of Texas
Texas Business and Technology Educators Association (TBTEA)
Texas Technology & Engineering Educators (TTEE)