Georgia's 'Career Clear' Campaign Wants Every Family to Know About 144 CTE Pathways -- Is It Working?

The persistent challenge facing CTE programs nationwide is not program quality -- it is visibility. Many families still default to a four-year university track without ever evaluating the career pathways available through their local high school's CTAE program. Georgia tackled this gap head-on in March 2024 with the launch of Career Clear, a digital campaign built around a dedicated website (CareerClearGeorgia.com) and designed to reach students, parents, and community members with a simple message: 144 distinct career pathways exist within Georgia's CTE system, and they lead to real jobs. For students in the Web and Digital Design pathway, the numbers back up the promise -- BLS data shows web designers in Georgia earn a median of $58,490, UX/UI designers reach $70,340, and the field is growing at a steady 2.9% to 3.2% clip.

The campaign is a joint effort between the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Education. TCSG Commissioner Greg Dozier framed the goal as illuminating career paths for Georgia's youth, while State Superintendent Richard Woods emphasized preparation for a competitive job market. The initiative connects high school CTAE directly to Georgia's 22 technical colleges, where students can pursue associate degrees, diplomas, and certificates across more than 600 programs.

Career Clear's messaging centers on three post-high-school options: continuing at a technical college, pursuing internships and apprenticeships, or entering the workforce with industry credentials already in hand. For web and digital design students, that last option carries real weight. Georgia's pathway offers preparation for credentials spanning IC3 Digital Literacy, Microsoft Technology Associate, and CompTIA certifications. Students build portfolios of work that demonstrate capability to employers in Atlanta's sizable digital agency ecosystem and beyond.

The campaign did not launch in a vacuum. It arrived alongside CCRPI accountability changes that reward schools for steering students into high-demand pathways, the approval of Georgia's official High Demand Career List, and ongoing Workforce for Georgia Grant investments in program expansion. The coordinated timing suggests that Career Clear is less a marketing exercise and more a public-facing component of a broader strategic alignment between Georgia's education system and its workforce needs. Whether the campaign achieves its awareness goals will likely show up in enrollment data over the next two to three years.