Washington High School Career Readiness: 8 Units for CTE and Advisory
Washington High School Career Readiness: 8 Units for CTE and Advisory
Washington CTE and advisory teachers who need ready career readiness lessons can start with the Career Readiness Curriculum Bundle: eight units for Grades 9–12 at $99.99. It covers money and debt, cover letters, résumés and interviews, professional email, presenting, customer conversations, time management, teamwork and AI at work. It is a set of units to build on, not a Washington-approved CTE course.
Open the career bundleThe Career Readiness Curriculum Bundle ($99.99) contains eight high school units: Financial Literacy – Handling Money and Debt Prevention; Application Training with cover letter, CV and interview; professional email; presenting; customer conversations and conflicts; time management and study methods; conflict and team management; and Digitalisation and AI in the World of Work. In Washington it can support a CTE course or advisory, but it is not tied to any state CTE program standard or course code.
The resources
Career Readiness Curriculum Bundle, Grades 9–12
8 resources in one download: $99.99 instead of $199.92 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Career Readiness Curriculum Bundle | Personal Finance, Job Applications, Workplace Communication & AI at Work | 8 Units | Grades 9–12
Personal Finance Starter Bundle | Money Mindset, SMART Goals, Budgeting, Debt & Interest | Grades 9–12
Accounting & Economics Fundamentals Bundle | Journal Entries, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Markets & Marketing | 9 Units | Grades 10–12
Digitalisation and AI in the World of Work
The real problem
Career readiness inside Washington's graduation framework
Washington's graduation framework for the Class of 2019 and beyond includes one credit of Career and Technical Education within 24 credits. OSPI organizes CTE around a Program of Study and Career Clusters, offers a Local CTE Graduation Pathway, runs Skills Centers as regional secondary schools, and publishes Washington State CTE Program Standards. A career readiness teacher therefore works inside a district's own program of study, and often with students who have very different plans after graduation. Money is part of that picture. The state adopted Financial Education learning standards in 2016, yet personal finance is not a graduation requirement in Washington; HB 1915 in 2024 did not pass, and a 2025 version did not advance. As of the 2026–27 school year, where money lessons happen is largely a district and teacher decision. The everyday difficulty is preparation time. A unit on interviews needs model answers and practice roles; a unit on professional email needs real examples; a lesson on AI at work needs to be current. Many teachers handed an advisory or an introductory CTE course write these from nothing every year.
Why it fits
How the units serve a Washington CTE or advisory course
Each unit stands on its own, so you can slot them into an existing course outline instead of replacing it.
- Application Training covers cover letters, CVs and interviews before students apply for jobs or training.
- Business Letter and Professional Email teaches students to write to employers and teachers with care.
- Customer conversations and conflicts help students headed into retail, hospitality or service jobs.
- Financial Literacy – Handling Money and Debt Prevention adds money lessons where no course requires them.
- Time management and study methods support students juggling school, work and a Skills Center schedule.
- Digitalisation and AI in the World of Work shows students how jobs in their cluster are changing.
Getting started
One way to run the eight units across a year
Suggested only. Match it to your program of study and to your district's CTE course outline.
- Open with time and study habitsStart with Time Management and Study Methods so students organize their own week first. Those habits make every later unit easier to complete and give quick wins early in the course.
- Build communication skillsTeach professional email, then presenting and giving talks. Students write a real email to a local employer or teacher and give a short presentation on a career cluster they are considering.
- Practice workplace conflictUse Job-related communication – customer conversations and conflicts, then Conflict and Team Management. Role plays let students rehearse hard conversations before they face them at work.
- Prepare applicationsTeach Application Training – Cover Letter, CV, Interview. Have each student finish a résumé and cover letter and run a mock interview, ideally with a guest from your advisory committee.
- Money and the future of workClose with Financial Literacy – Handling Money and Debt Prevention and Digitalisation and AI in the World of Work, so students leave thinking about their first paycheck and how their field is changing.
What to buy
Choosing among the career and finance sets
For a broad career readiness course, buy the Career Readiness Curriculum Bundle at $99.99; its eight units cost $199.92 separately. If you want a deeper money strand, the Personal Finance Starter Bundle ($59.99, parts $78.94) adds a course launch lesson, money values, SMART financial goals, a money mindset quiz, debt and interest. Teachers in a business or finance program of study may prefer the Accounting & Economics Fundamentals Bundle ($109.99, parts $224.91). If you only need the AI unit, Digitalisation and AI in the World of Work is sold alone for $24.99; it is already one of the eight units in the career bundle.
Honest limits
Where the bundle stops
The units were not written for Washington. They are not aligned to the Washington State CTE Program Standards or the Financial Education learning standards, carry no course codes, and do not count toward any credential or graduation pathway on their own. Check them against your district's program of study before building a course. You supply local employers, job postings and any work-based learning arrangements. A CTE department sharing the units should send Teach Lessons a short message first. If the bundle does not fit, you can exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value; it is not refunded in cash.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is this approved for Washington CTE credit?
No. The bundle is not approved under, aligned to or written for the Washington State CTE Program Standards, and buying it does not make a course eligible for CTE credit. Your district and its program of study decide which courses count. Use the units as teaching material inside a course your district has already set up.
Is personal finance required to graduate in Washington?
Not as of the 2026–27 school year. The state adopted Financial Education learning standards in 2016, but personal finance is not a graduation requirement; HB 1915 in 2024 did not pass and a 2025 version did not advance. Check with OSPI or your district for any later change.
Can I use it in an advisory period instead of a CTE class?
Yes. The units are self-contained, so an advisory teacher can run, for example, the time management unit in fall and the application unit in spring. The bundle's own description names career readiness, work-based learning and advisory courses as the settings it was put together for.
Does it work for students at a Skills Center?
It can, as background in communication, applications, teamwork and money. It does not teach the technical skills of any specific trade or career cluster. Skills Center instructors will want to pair it with their program's own technical content and use the units for the general workplace skills around it.
Is the AI unit current?
Digitalisation and AI in the World of Work looks at how digital tools and AI are changing jobs. Because the subject moves quickly, add a recent news story or an example from a local employer when you teach it, so the class discussion stays grounded in what students will actually meet.
How do I get it?
It is a digital download, available right after purchase by email and in your customer account under Orders. Every part is also sold on its own and linked on the bundle page, so a colleague who needs only the interview unit, for instance, can buy that one later.
Career lessons you do not have to write
Open the bundle page to read each unit description and map them onto your course outline.
Open the career bundle