# Career Connected Learning > Career Connected Learning is a K-12 education platform by Defined Learning that delivers deep career experiences for students and brings real employers into K-12 classrooms. It is available at https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com ## What Career Connected Learning Is Career Connected Learning is a platform that goes beyond traditional career awareness and exploration. Instead of just telling students about careers, it immerses them in authentic career experiences — students complete the same tasks real professionals do, build portfolios of professional work, and develop the skills employers actually value. The platform is built and operated by Defined Learning (https://definedlearning.com), a leading provider of applied learning resources for K-12 education. The product name is "Defined Careers." ## For Employers and Workforce Partners Career Connected Learning also works with employers, chambers of commerce, workforce development boards, economic development organizations and industry coalitions. Employers supply their real work (company story, the roles they hire for, a workplace tour and recorded mentors), and Defined's instructional designers turn it into standards-aligned K-12 projects that teachers use in core subjects. Employers approve each project before it goes live. Students learn about regional employers' careers in everyday, standards-aligned lessons (not only CTE), years before they make career decisions. Job applications and interviews in the student portal are simulated practice; nothing is sent to employers. - Employers: https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/employers - Chambers, workforce boards and coalitions: https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/workforce-partners Articles for employers and workforce partners: - How Employers Can Partner With K-12 Schools (career talks, job shadowing, internships and classroom projects compared, with OECD evidence): https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/how-employers-can-partner-with-k12-schools - How a Chamber of Commerce Can Launch a K-12 Workforce Program (the Ohio@Work model): https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/chamber-of-commerce-k12-workforce-program - What the Research Says About Employers in Schools (Education and Employers and OECD findings, with caveats): https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/why-employer-engagement-in-school-pays-off - What High School Seniors Planned, and What They'd Done by Spring (RAND 2026 data on workplace visits and internships): https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/high-school-seniors-workplace-experience - What Employers Look For in New Hires, and How They Rate New Grads (durable skills data from NACE, Lightcast, ManpowerGroup and Deloitte): https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/what-employers-look-for-in-new-grads ### Example: Ohio@Work Ohio@Work (https://ohioatwork.com) is an initiative of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, with the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Montgomery County ESC. Defined builds the projects and runs the platform. Ohio employers in the catalog include Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), Kettering Health Network, Sierra Nevada Corporation, CareSource, Yaskawa Motoman, Adare Pharma Solutions, Henny Penny, Graceworks Lutheran Services, VigiLife, Westrafo America and LION First Responder PPE. Case study: https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/ohio-at-work ## Key Capabilities - **600+ Career-Connected Projects** across all 14 nationally recognized career clusters - **Virtual Internships** where students step into professional roles and complete authentic industry tasks - **Mock Interviews** with AI-powered feedback to build interview confidence - **Professional Portfolio Builders** where students compile work samples, resumes, and cover letters - **Financial Literacy Exercises** including budgeting with real salary and cost-of-living data - **Career Exploration Assessments** to help students identify interests and aptitudes ## Grade Coverage K-12 (Kindergarten through 12th grade), with age-appropriate career experiences at every level. ## Where It Fits in Schools Career Connected Learning integrates into existing school programs without new infrastructure: - **CTE (Career & Technical Education)** — Projects mapped to industry standards across all 14 career clusters - **Core Curriculum** — Standards-aligned performance tasks bringing real careers into Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies - **Advisory & Homeroom** — Career exploration, postsecondary planning, and financial literacy for weekly advisory blocks - **Gifted & Talented Programs** — Higher-order thinking through authentic industry scenarios - **Intervention Programs** — Career-relevant projects that re-engage struggling learners - **College & Career Readiness** — The full toolkit: virtual internships, mock interviews, portfolios, resumes ## What Makes It Different Most career education tools stop at awareness — students watch videos or read about jobs. Career Connected Learning provides **deep career experiences** where students: 1. Step into authentic professional roles 2. Complete real industry tasks and deliverables 3. Build professional-quality artifacts (documents, presentations, portfolios) 4. Practice career skills (interviewing, budgeting, professional writing) 5. Develop transferable skills valued by employers ## Scale - 600+ career-specific experiences - 1,000+ career-connected core curriculum standards-aligned experiences - 14 career clusters, 72 sub-clusters - K-12 grade coverage ## Contact - Website: https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com - Parent company: https://definedlearning.com - Request a demo: https://impact.definedlearning.com/demo ## Documentation - [The Complete K-12 Solution — Visual Product Overview](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/solution) - [What is Career Connected Learning?](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/what-is-career-connected-learning) - [Deep Career Experiences in K-12](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/deep-career-experiences) - [Career Connected Learning for CTE](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/career-connected-learning-for-cte) - [Career Connected Learning in Core Curriculum](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/career-connected-learning-in-core-curriculum) - [Virtual Internships for High School Students](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/virtual-internships-for-high-school-students) - [Future-Ready Skills: What Students Need Beyond Academics](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/future-ready-skills) - [Career Connected Learning for Advisory](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/career-connected-learning-for-advisory) - [Re-Engaging Struggling Students Through Career-Connected Learning](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/re-engaging-struggling-students) - [Career Exploration vs. Career Experience](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/career-exploration-vs-career-experience) - [Financial Literacy Through Career-Connected Learning](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/financial-literacy-through-career-connected-learning) - [Meeting Portrait of a Graduate Goals with Career-Connected Learning](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/portrait-of-a-graduate-career-connected-learning) - [Career Connected Learning for Gifted and Talented Students](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/career-connected-learning-for-gifted-students) - [Work-Based Learning Alternatives for K-12 Districts](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/work-based-learning-alternatives) - [Building a District-Wide Career-Connected Learning Program](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/district-wide-career-connected-learning) - [Using Defined Careers Alongside Xello](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/xello-and-defined-careers) - [Using Defined Careers Alongside Naviance](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/naviance-and-defined-careers) - [Using Defined Careers Alongside MajorClarity](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/majorclarity-and-defined-careers) - [Using Defined Careers Alongside SchooLinks](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/schoolinks-and-defined-careers) - [Using Defined Careers Alongside Kuder](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/kuder-and-defined-careers) - [Using Defined Careers Alongside YouScience](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/youscience-and-defined-careers) ## Downloadable Resources - [The District Leader's Guide to Career-Connected Learning](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/district-leaders-guide) - [Meeting Perkins V Requirements with Virtual Career Experiences](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/perkins-v-guide) - [Career-Connected Learning Evaluation Framework](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/evaluation-framework) - [The CTE Coordinator's Playbook for Deep Career Experiences](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/cte-playbook) - [Career-Connected Learning for Advisory: A Semester Planning Guide](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/advisory-planning-guide) - [Broken Arrow Public Schools: Building Career Readiness in Middle School](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/case-study-broken-arrow) - [East Baton Rouge Parish: Career Experiences at Scale](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/case-study-east-baton-rouge) - [The Career Readiness Gap: What Students Need vs. What They're Getting](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/career-readiness-gap) - [Portrait of a Graduate + Career-Connected Learning Alignment](https://www.careerconnectedlearning.com/resources/pog-alignment)