WGU Labs, MajorClarity Partner to Advance Career Readiness for High School Students
Innovation lab supporting development of interactive simulations that enable students to ‘test drive’ careers
SALT LAKE CITY – WGU Labs, Inc. (WGU Labs), an affiliate of online nonprofit Western Governors University (WGU), has announced a product and market development agreement with MajorClarity—an education technology company designed to help students discover their future careers and the postsecondary paths needed to attain them. As part of the partnership, WGU Labs will develop content for interactive career simulations and provide support for MajorClarity’s market expansion.
“The term ‘college and career readiness’ is used widely throughout the education industry, but the career portion of the equation almost always takes a backseat to the college piece,” said Joe Belsterling, founder of MajorClarity. “We want to flip the focus to empower K-12 learners to begin their postsecondary planning with a deeper understanding of themselves—their strengths, aptitudes, and interests—and how the career landscape fits them.”
MajorClarity is based in Richmond, Va., and unifies teaching, counseling, and career readiness in a single platform that puts the student at the center of their own future. Rather than simply reading about careers or watching videos, MajorClarity engages students with career “test drives” through authentic, career-specific projects designed to give students a deeper understanding of different careers to help them determine which roles might be a good fit.
This career-first, student-centric approach is a shift from how college- and career-readiness systems have typically engaged students. Moreover, many high school career- and college-readiness programs focus heavily on four-year college pathways, often leaving students who are pursuing other options to fall through the cracks.
“The career simulations we develop with Major Clarity will empower students to test drive careers before they invest time and money down any one path,” said Jess Stokes, Head of Product Management for WGU Labs. “We are passionate about MajorClarity's role in inspiring students to pursue careers that align with their interests, and for helping students avoid costly missteps.”
“The last program we used had some video and activity content, but nothing compared to MajorClarity’s platform,” said Ginger Jones, Director of Counseling and Student Support Services for Rankin County Schools in Brandon, Miss. “Our students used to do a lot of digging to research potential colleges and scholarships, but with MajorClarity they can log in, research, compare, and save postsecondary opportunities—all in one spot.”
Belsterling believes that adding value to the workforce and society is more important than whether a student gets into college immediately after high school.
“Our vision is focused on helping students achieve successful career outcomes,” said Belsterling. “Of course, at the center of everything we do are the students and educators that we have the privilege to offer our service to—we simply hope to amplify the incredible work already taking place in school districts across the country by providing career readiness at a critical point in students’ lives.”
About WGU Labs
WGU Labs is a nonprofit applicant that is an affiliate of WGU. WGU Labs primarily provides research, services, invents, builds, and secondarily invests in strategically aligned innovative learning solutions that improve quality and advance educational outcomes for learners everywhere. Building on social psychology, learning science, and industry trends, WGU Labs accelerates education startups and develops its own research-supported, scalable products. Learn more about WGU Labs at https://wgulabs.org/.
About MajorClarity
MajorClarity, Inc., is an educational software company providing career exploration and academic-planning services to 1,500+ schools nationwide. MajorClarity unifies academic planning and career readiness for schools and students, helping ensure that every student’s education leads to a successful career outcome. MajorClarity offers the only academic-planning platform with interactive-career simulations (or “test drives”), in addition to its video content. MajorClarity helps every student leverage their career exploration to build out a course plan and a postsecondary plan that leads to their desired career outcome, whether that is through a 4-year degree, a 2-year degree, a technical certificate, the military, or going straight into the workforce.
