Career Kickstart

Career Kickstart is a new program in development that’s designed to accelerate high school students on their paths to in-demand careers.

Learn More About Our 2025-26 Cybersecurity Pilots

What Is Career Kickstart?

Career Kickstart aspires to expand the successful AP model to the career and technical education space by offering high schools a new set of career-oriented courses and exams.

Powering Students’ Progress

  • We're partnering with employers, college faculty, and high school educators to design courses that prepare students for their first job and help them complete a college degree faster. 
  • Once launched beyond the pilot stage, Career Kickstart courses will engage students with instruction and experiences that can lead to industry-recognized credentials and the opportunity to earn college credit—ultimately powering their progress to in-demand jobs and choice-filled lives. 
A male teacher looks smiling over the shoulder of several high school students working at computers

Every Career Kickstart course will:

Fit into an articulated career pathway

Align with career and technical education standards

Relate to workforce needs in high-growth sectors

Offer applied, hands-on learning that builds problem-solving skills

Include both technical and “soft” (or “professional”) skills

Embed work-based learning opportunities

Starting with Cybersecurity

Career Kickstart will develop courses in pathways that prepare students for high-demand, high-wage jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Entry-level cybersecurity roles meet that description; the first pathway we’re developing is Cybersecurity.

Pilot Testing

In the 2024-25 school year, we are piloting our inaugural Career Kickstart Cybersecurity courses: Networking Fundamentals and Cybersecurity Fundamentals. We will hold a second Cybersecurity pilot in 2025-26. 

Future Pathways

We plan to build out multiple career and technical education (CTE) pathways in information technology (networking, cybersecurity, coding) and additional pathways in business and health sciences. 

Two young women smile while examining an electronic part

Learn More About Our Upcoming Pilots

Formal applications for the 2025-26 Career Kickstart Cybersecurity Pilots will open in June 2024.

Learn More and Share Your Interest