To dispel concerns that career education does not belong in middle school, it may help to reinterpret a career more broadly as life, not just work. Middle school students should view career paths as a broad range of options available to them. In addition, early career education may help to dispel sex-role stereotypes and self-limiting practices of minority group children, as well as increase their awareness of how schoolwork relates to work. Infusion of career education into the middle school curriculum is ideal. Infusion practices may include an introductory career orientation course, integration of career exploration topics in subject classes, a thematic interdisciplinary curriculum, and career portfolios. Other best practices include constructivism, in which learners undertake inquiry and actively construct knowledge by integrating new information into their existing cognitive structure; mentoring; service learning; contextualized learning; use of technology; and use of other resources, such as career-oriented interdisciplinary summer school, speakers bureau, field trips to high schools, colleges, and businesses, career days, and job shadowing. (Contains 17 references.) (KC)