Intended as a sourcebook for administrators of rural Iowa schools, this report outlines the development and implementation of a school-to-work transition program for rural youth. Part 1 discusses the need and rationale for a program to facilitate the school-to-work transition. Included among the topics addressed in this discussion are an overview of the parameters and goals of vocational and career education, ways of implementing the basic transition concepts, and linkages necessary for a true transition. Next, a planning model is examined that will aid administrators and local school boards in initiating a program that is responsive to the needs of students. Covered in the individual sections of this examination are planning for the implementation of a local transition process (an overview of the planning process, support for planning from area vocational planning councils, a planning model for local schools, coordination of local school and area council plans, and phases of a multi-year plan) as well as implementing a transition delivery model (the model's rationale and philosophy, establishing joint-effort programs, implementation guidelines, financing, center-based curriculum design, programs of instruction, center program offerings, types of programs, and a Center Model Ten Program of instruction). (MN)