This digest briefly reviews the ways that working affects students, and describes ways that schools can partner with businesses to increase the educational benefits of working. The economic payoff for students who work in high school is well-established, including a positive association between the amount of high school work experience and employment or earnings a few years later. The opportunity to acquire skills at work can have positive effects on the development of student orientation toward work. The major potential cost of students' jobs is a negative impact on academic achievement, although research findings vary significantly on the extent of the detriment. Debates over the supposed benefits of work experience have resulted in increased interest in school-to-work initiatives in which education and employment are linked. General purposes of work-based learning are: (1) to provide for acquisition of knowledge or skills for employment; (2) career exploration and planning; (3) knowledge of all aspects of an industry; (4) development of work-related personal and social competence; and (5) improvement in student motivation and academic achievement. If work-based learning is to achieve these goals, it must be planned carefully and monitored by people who understand the work place and what is to be learned there. Teachers of academic subjects must believe that the program is worthwhile and must link the work-based aspects with instruction in formal academic subjects. Until it is determined that work-based learning can be extended effectively to college-bound students, efforts to promote work-based learning programs will be minimal, and students in those programs may feel stigmatized as less academically able. (Contains 16 references.) (SLD)