The career and technical education (CTE) provided in grades K-12 in the county's vocational-technical center and 12 local public school districts of Lenawee County, Michigan, was benchmarked with respect to its attention to career development. Data were collected from the following sources: structured interviews with a number of key respondents from the county's schools, employer community, and postsecondary institutions; focus groups involving 131 individuals; and review of documents from local school districts. The data were analyzed to identify the county context for career development and vocational-technical education, the nature of the county's existing vocational-technical programs, successful practices, and issues and concerns. The following are among the 10 recommendations that emerged from the benchmarking: (1) educators in the county should improve communications and marketing related to CTE and career development by replacing the term "vocational education" with "career and technical education" and eliminating use of the phrase "college-bound"; (2) CTE courses and staff must constantly "ratchet up" their standards and expectations of students; (3) programs must be made more individualized, flexible, and student-centered; (4) facilities for academic courses should be maintained; and (5) the CTE system should consider adopting a system of 10 clusters that each contain a number of career majors. (MN)