The core features of the preindustrial model of school-to-work transition are needed now. An environment must be recreated in which young people see the vital connections among education, training, and work that were once so clear. The emerging consensus model has these features: combined formal schooling and structured on-the-job training leading to a qualification; an intellectually-demanding curriculum that requires students to apply knowledge to real-world problems; a curriculum and set of work experiences focused enough to qualify students for entry-level work, but broad enough to provide skills for mobility; and job experiences. A three-tier system of education and skills standards has been proposed. This system would lead to a Certificate of Initial Mastery with which a student could go on to college, enter the work force, or enroll in a program of professional and technical education and training leading to a Tier II skills certificate. The system should provide for funding and development of dropout prevention and dropout recovery programs. Out-of-school young people should be working toward the same qualifications as young people in school. They would need a much wider range of support, the prospect of public placements, and a point of entry into the school-to-work transition system. Employers and unions must be involved in local organizations in career centers around which the school-to-work transition system would be organized at the local level. (YLB)