Career Exploration and Career Development Experience Resource Hub

Supporting ISBE Pilot Schools

In school year 2021–22, the Illinois State Board of Education provided a grant opportunity for schools across Illinois to pilot career exploration and career development experiences. Resources provided on this site include:

  • Statewide frameworks and resources that pilot schools utilized to guide their design and implementation processes.
  • Models and related resources from pilot schools.
  • Recordings and presentations from communities of practice that supported sharing and collaboration among pilot schools.

Contact Information

Karen Lockhart

Principal Consultant, Illinois State Board of Education

Heather Penczak

Innovation and Implementation Director, Education Systems Center at NIU

How does the State of Illinois define Career Exploration and Career Development Experiences?

Career Exploration

An activity such as a job shadow, attendance at a career exposition, or employer site visit that provides an individual with the ability to engage directly with employers for the purpose of gaining knowledge of one or more industry sectors or occupations.

Source: Career Pathways Dictionary

Download the CE template
Download the CE Design Challenge template
Download the CE presentation

Career Development Experience

A supervised work experience relating to an individual’s career area of interest that:

  1. Occurs in a workplace or under other authentic working conditions, including virtual and/or hybrid environments;
  2. Is co-developed by an education provider and at least one employer in the relevant field.
  3. Provides compensation or educational credit to the participant.
  4. Reinforces foundational professional skills, including, at a minimum, those outlined in the Recommended Technical and Essential Employability Competencies framework.
  5. Includes a professional skills assessment that assesses skill development and is utilized as a participant feedback tool.
  6. Takes place for a minimum of 60 total hours. A single career development experience must be a minimum of 30 consecutive hours, and two distinct experiences can be combined to fulfill this requirement.

Source: Career Pathways Dictionary

Download the CDE template
Download the CDE presentation

Resources

Statewide Frameworks

Career Exploration Resources from the ISBE Pilot Schools

Career Development Experience Resources

Related Community Examples

Illinois Work-Based Learning Innovation Network Resource Hub

The Illinois Work-Based Learning Innovation Network is designed for K-12 school districts, postsecondary institutions, employers, and community-based organizations across Illinois to share learnings about innovative, scalable, and high-quality work-based learning models.

Explore additional work-based learning resources and join the community of practice convenings:

Community of Practice Recordings and Presentations

On April 26, 2022, grant recipients participated in a Community Showcase, presenting on their pilot experiences including a general overview of their experience, lessons learned and challenges overcome, best practices, and resources. Download the presentation.

A gathering of communities across Illinois who are piloting Career Exploration and Career Development experiences as part of a grant opportunity from the Illinois State Board of Education. This session included an overview of resources and community presentations from Hoopeston Area School District and River Bend School District. Hosted by ISBE and EdSystems, this meeting was held on February 24, 2022.

Download the presentation.

A gathering of communities across Illinois who are piloting Career Exploration and Career Development experiences as part of a grant opportunity from the Illinois State Board of Education. This session included an overview of resources and community presentations from Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401 and Lake County Tech Campus. Hosted by ISBE and EdSystems, this meeting was held on December 9, 2021. Download the presentation deck.

A gathering of communities across Illinois who are piloting a Career Exploration experience as part of a grant opportunity from the Illinois State Board of Education at the elementary/middle school level, to share pilot plans and make connections. Hosted by ISBE and EdSystems, this meeting was held on November 16, 2021.

Download the chat.


The Community of Practice held on October 26, 2021, included:

  • Overview of ISBE Grant Opportunity
  • Community Presentations from Paula Waterman, Career Advisor at Hoffman Estates High School; Lamont Holifield, Executive Director at the Career Preparation Network and Math/CTE Division Leader at Crete Monee High School; Terry Stroh, Director at Northern Kane County Regional Vocational System

Access the presentation deck

On Tuesday, August 24, 2021, schools across Illinois who are piloting a Career Exploration and/or Career Development Experience as a part of a grant opportunity from the Illinois State Board of Education convened. The session includes an introduction to the team at Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University who will be supporting participating schools through professional development and technical assistance opportunities throughout the 2021-2022 school year, and covered the following:

  • Guidance, tools, and state frameworks on Career Exploration and Career Development Experiences
  • Resource banks of innovative community models and materials that are applicable across industry areas, as well as sector-specific models
  • Facilitated breakout rooms for participants to discuss their plans and questions to build connections and form a network of peers


Access the presentation deck