The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Career awareness and exploration" means programs, activities, and events that provide early exposure to jobs and industries. "Career awareness and exploration" are structured programs that include job fairs, guest speakers, job shadows, jobsite tours, and other similar activities.
(2) "Career connected learning" means a learning experience that is integrated with work-related content and skills in the following three categories: (a) Career awareness and exploration; (b) career preparation; and (c) career launch. "Career connected learning" includes work-integrated learning and work-integrated experiences.
(3)(a) "Career launch programs" means registered apprenticeships and programs that combine the following three elements:
(i) Supervised paid work experience;
(ii) Aligned classroom learning to academic and employer standards. For career launch programs involving the K-12 system, aligned classroom learning must meet educational requirements and standards of the office of the superintendent of public instruction; and
(iii) Culmination in a valuable credential beyond a high school diploma or forty-five college credits towards a two-year or four-year postsecondary credential.
(b) "Career launch programs" include the elements in (a) of this subsection and may be achieved through, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:
(i) A state-approved career and technical education sequence of courses or program of study that include requirements in alignment with RCW
28A.700.030;
(ii) A qualifying degree or credential earned through a community or technical college or university.
(c) "Career launch programs" may be initiated in a secondary education system and completed in a postsecondary education system, or first year of paid employment, as long as all parties jointly plan the program.
(d) "Career launch programs" must be endorsed through the process created under RCW
28C.30.040(1)(a).
(4) "Career preparation programs" means programs that give students hands-on skills and knowledge experience within a particular business, career track, or industry, and help prepare students to work in a professional setting. "Career preparation programs" include career and technical education courses, on-site internships, preapprenticeship programs, and other similar opportunities.
(5) "Complete Washington" means the program established in the 2018 omnibus operating appropriations act, section 117, chapter 299, Laws of 2018, for the purpose of connecting prior learning with postsecondary degree completion.
(6) "Work group" means the career connected learning cross-agency work group established in RCW
28C.30.030.
(7) "Work-integrated learning" has the meaning provided in RCW
28A.630.135.
