Comprehensive high schools have developed into systems serving the high-achieving, college-bound students and the students who need remediation in basic skills, with little attention being paid to the large number of students who fall between these two levels. Little attention is paid to educating students for midlevel jobs that require more education today than they did previously. Attempting to change this situation, educators have developed a variety of learning arrangements and alternative approaches. They include the following: (1) cognitive apprenticeship, a problem-centered approach in which students become active learners through problem solving; (2) tech prep, which links vocational education in a secondary school to postsecondary technical education; (3) integrated academic and vocational education; (4) career magnet schools and academies that integrate academic and vocational education with a theme or focus school; (5) work-based youth apprenticeship, with a structured curriculum and a significant amount of education taking place on the job; (6) cooperative education, a less-structured approach, with students going to school part time and working part time; and (7) school-based enterprise, activities that encourage students to learn and use academic and entrepreneurship skills. These options should be measured against seven criteria to ensure that a model can be developed for building the middle. The models most likely to succeed should have the following design elements: the pedagogic and curricular principles of cognitive apprenticeship, the organizational elements of academic and vocational integration, the articulation and occupational cluster principles of tech prep, and the rigorous skills certification system of work-based youth apprenticeship. (KC)