Mission
All students completing the Michigan education system will have the necessaryacademic, technical, and work behavior skills for success in a career of theirchoice and lifelong learning. Purpose Michigan’s Career Preparation System, an initiative announced by Governor JohnEngler in the 1997 State of the State address and created through amendments to the FY 1997-98 School Aid Act (Public Act 93), as well as Executive Order 1997-15, is designed to give all students a jump-start to their career by expanding options to explore a variety of career opportunities throughout their K-12 education. The system is intended to ensure that each graduate will receive a quality education to prepare for higher education and their first job in today’s competitive market. The system calls for strategies including career contextual learning which emphasizes the application of academics to the world beyond the classroom, and providing all students with career exploration, guidance opportunities and general employability and technology skills. Students may choose to begin preparation for careers at the high school level. The majority of high school programs will be designed to articulate with postsecondary programs at community colleges and four-year institutions across the state.

Goals
The goals of the Career Preparation system are:

• To ensure that career preparation is fully integrated into the Michigan education system
• To ensure that all students, with their parents, will be prepared to make informed choices about their careers
• To ensure that all students have the types and levels of skills, knowledge and performance valued and required
  

Components and Activity Categories
Career Preparation is composed of seven broad interrelated and interconnecting components and seventeen activity categories that comprise the system. These components and activity categories are not entirely new and most have been incorporated into the state’s educational delivery system in varying degrees as a result of other relatedinitiatives. The great potential provided by Career Preparation is the "systems" dimension that provides the template for systematically organizing and integrating programs and services which address the needs of students to be lifelong learners and successfully fill the adult role as an employed individual in a career(s) of their choice. Each component of Career Preparation reflects significant features that collectively serve to form a system. Quality career preparation is dependent upon aligning each of the seven components to achieve a highly functional and interactive system with the goal of increasing student achievement and successful entry into a career of choice.

The components of the Career Preparation System with their activity categories are:
1. Academic Preparation
- Career Contextual Learning
2. Career Development
-Career Pathways
-Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling
-Career Awareness/Exploration
-Career Assessment
-Education Development Plans
3. Workplace Readiness
-Career and Employability Skills
-Technology Education
4. Professional and Technical Education
-Career and Technical Education
-Tech Prep
-Community College
-College/University
-Military
-Technical/Trade/Proprietary Schools
5. Work-Based Learning
-Work-Based Learning Techniques
6. Accountability
-Data/Evaluation/Accountability
7. School Improvement
-School Improvement Planning