Residents of New Jersey are becoming increasingly concerned about whether the majority of the state's young people have the skills and knowledge they need for adult success. In looking at strategies for improving students' prospects, the work of both high schools and community colleges is coming under greater scrutiny. But K-12 schools and community colleges operate under separate governance systems, pursue distinct missions, and gauge their success based on different measures. For these reasons, they are seldom looked at together. Yet these two sets of public institutions share responsibility for the futures of a vast number of New Jersey's young people, including 30% or more of new high school graduates who each fall enroll at one of the state's 19 community colleges. For both systems, the pressure to improve all students' academic achievement is increasing. This position paper focuses on where New Jersey's K-12 and community college systems meet and explores some of the potential opportunities currently under discussion for building better bridges between them. This paper emphasizes the issue of students' readiness for college-level academic work in English, language arts and math. Strengthening practices and policies related to student transitions could help this state make faster progress toward its goals for well-educated young people who are better prepared for productive citizenship in the 21st century. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]