Implications of developmental characteristics of youth are assessed for community education-work councils and the career education programs which councils might be expected to sponsor, in order to decide whether to evaluate councils, and if so, what outcomes councils might be expected to affect. Youth are defined to include pre-adolescent children in school (7-11 years), adolescents in or out, but primarily in school (12-18 years), and young adults in or out of school (19-24 years). The question of whether and why there are problems in how youth are encouraged or able to pursue developmental tasks is addressed by questioning five assumptions that motivate career education literature. These assumptions are the following: (1) Youth have excessive rates of unemployment. (2) Inadequate work socialization of youth increases youth unemployment. (3) There is a decline in the work ethic. (4) Youth do not have enough labor market information. (5) Youth unemployment is high because youth have the wrong work skills. Conclusions generally refute negative assumptions and suggest the need for specific labor market information. In addition to addressing school-work assumptions for youth in general, comments are made about the school-work transition of subgroups of youth (women, noncollegegoers, high school dropouts, and blacks) and questions concerning them which should be assessed. (TA)