High public expectations of the educational and workforce development systems are the force behind the shifting roles of education and training and efforts to create more coherent and effective systems of work force preparation. The result of pulling and tugging by citizens, policymakers, and educators is a system of widespread access, considerable transparency, and variation. Like the federal government, states have a plethora of programs, some state initiated and funded, others largely federal. Complaints about the system of federal and state programs--some justified, others exaggerated--are as follows: limited information, inadequate access, inefficiency, and duplication; barriers to local system coordination embedded in the basic purposes and structure of different programs; and suspect program effectiveness. States have become increasingly active in defining and coordinating their work force development programs through the dominant state strategy and institutional and market-like mechanisms. At the local level, one-stop centers and Workforce Investment Councils have been created. Although the Workforce Investment Act should enhance development of coherent systems, greater reliance on Individual Training Accounts may undermine it. Strong community colleges have become the linchpin of state systems. In a coherent system, education and training could learn from each other and provide more comprehensive and effective services; some outcomes are possible only within an integrated system. (Contains 11 references.) (YLB)