Career Clusters

A career cluster is a way to organize a student's program of study to prepare him or her for further education and/or employment in a field such as as health care, business, or manufacturing. The U.S. Department of Education has identified 16 of these career clusters, all of which include a number of diverse pathways to achieving success.

Within the career clusters, content standards have been developed for 51 of the 81 pathways that support careers meeting the definition of high skill, high wage, and high demand. This list of pathways is based on research performed by the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations (Alabama's labor market information agency) and the Alabama Department of Education.

Although not every school in Alabama will offer all the courses required for each cluster or pathway, individual schools and counselors will work with students to help them obtain access to the courses and career learning experiences required to successfully complete any of the pathways. This may be achieved through a variety of methods, including distance learning and dual enrollment courses.

View the career cluster wheel [click here]

Clusters and Assigned SDE Personnel