National Longitudinal Survey on Youth data indicate a large proportion of each youth cohort is still struggling in the labor market in their early 30s. Unemployment spells of long duration are common. A future problem is scarcity of needed skills in the kinds of jobs that will have to be created if the nation's economy is to regain its competitive edge. The United States' lack of a system of school-to-work transition is an obstacle to achieving the goal of getting the most out of each worker. Program models that illustrate "best practice" in the integration of school and work tend to cluster in two general categories: programs built around curricular approaches that bring work and career issues into the classroom and programs that get young people out of the classroom and into work and the labor market. Consensus is developing in the literature and among practitioners on basic building blocks of an effective career preparation system that underlie four recommendations for federal policy: (1) encourage continued experimentation with and learning from diverse school-to-work programs; (2) support development of the basic elements of a national skills training system; (3) focus federal resources on employer participation and teacher development; and (4) use its authority and resources to promote a new vision of government's role. (Appendixes include a 32-item bibliography and "A Memorandum on the Youth Transition" by Paul Barton.) (YLB)