Communicate about Career Explore, Prep, and Launch
Career connected learning programs supported by the Career Connect Washington network are tailored to the needs of our state’s students and young people and help connect them to career pathways for high-demand, family sustaining-wage jobs.
There are three categories of programs that get gradually more intense and rewarding: Career Explore, Career Prep and Career Launch.
Use the language below to describe these categories to your audiences:
Career Explore
- Programs designed to expose students to many career options and pathways, beginning as early as elementary or middle school.
- Examples include career fairs, worksite tours, job shadowing, guest speaker presentations, and other similar activities.
Career Prep
- Programs designed to deepen a student’s understanding of a specific industry or career through hands-on training and skills, typically in late middle school and in high school.
- Programs that prepare students for future work and provide an opportunity for students to learn whether or not a given career path is a good fit.
Examples include Career & Technical Education and Core Plus courses, skills center courses, summer internships, and recognized pre-apprenticeship programs.
Career Launch
- Programs that combine meaningful, supervised, paid, on-the job experience with aligned academic instruction so participants end as a competitive candidate for a real job and earn either an industry-recognized credential, or a postsecondary credential (or at least 45 credits towards a postsecondary credential).
- Career Launch can begin as early as high school and can also be accessed as an adult.
- Examples include state-approved Registered Apprenticeships, and K-12 and postsecondary credential programs that include robust, paid work-based training.
- Career Launch programs are approved by the Career Launch Endorsement Review team or the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council. Upon successful completion of a Career Launch, students can choose to continue academically, seek additional career training, or start their career. (See diagram below for more details on Career Launch.)
Communicate about Career Explore, Prep, and Launch
Career connected learning programs supported by the Career Connect Washington network are tailored to the needs of our state’s students and young people and help connect them to career pathways for high-demand, family sustaining-wage jobs.
There are three categories of programs that get gradually more intense and rewarding: Career Explore, Career Prep and Career Launch.
Use the language below to describe these categories to your audiences:
Career Explore
- Programs designed to expose students to many career options and pathways, beginning as early as elementary or middle school.
- Examples include career fairs, worksite tours, job shadowing, guest speaker presentations, and other similar activities.
Career Prep
- Programs designed to deepen a student’s understanding of a specific industry or career through hands-on training and skills, typically in late middle school and in high school.
- Programs that prepare students for future work and provide an opportunity for students to learn whether or not a given career path is a good fit.
Examples include Career & Technical Education and Core Plus courses, skills center courses, summer internships, and recognized pre-apprenticeship programs.
Career Launch
- Programs that combine meaningful, supervised, paid, on-the job experience with aligned academic instruction so participants end as a competitive candidate for a real job and earn either an industry-recognized credential, or a postsecondary credential (or at least 45 credits towards a postsecondary credential).
- Career Launch can begin as early as high school and can also be accessed as an adult.
- Examples include state-approved Registered Apprenticeships, and K-12 and postsecondary credential programs that include robust, paid work-based training.
- Career Launch programs are approved by the Career Launch Endorsement Review team or the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council. Upon successful completion of a Career Launch, students can choose to continue academically, seek additional career training, or start their career. (See diagram below for more details on Career Launch.)