This book describes an effort by Jobs for the Future (JFF) to help communities keep their school-to-career reform efforts on track through a process of goal setting and measurement that sets realistic and achievable reforms while still building toward fundamental educational change. The process is called "benchmarking," and those involved must: (1) provide a concrete definition of what success looks like; (2) guide the selection of priority tasks and next steps in the reform process; (3) recognize and reward progress in implementing teaching practice and institutional designs that lay the groundwork for improved student outcomes, rather than fault teachers and schools for not achieving instant success; and (4) establish clear roles and responsibilities for school, district, business, and community partners, and mutual accountability for results. The book is organized in four parts. Part 1 describes one school district's use of performance measurement to guide and strengthen implementation of school-to-career education reform. Part 2 shows how benchmarking applies to each of the key players in the school-to-career enterprise in a way that uses measurement to build effective partnerships. Part 3 contrasts the measurement strategy of two JFF communities to illustrate how to use benchmarking to guide and drive the change process and how to tailor a benchmarking process to the local context and level of program development. Part 4 concludes with a discussion of benchmarking and what it can reasonably be expected to accomplish. (KC)