The United States has no coherent strategy for helping noncollege-bound students develop the competence for middle-level jobs. The need for more emphasis on the needs of noncollege-bound students became apparent during the 1980s as less-educated workers began encountering more wage and employment difficulties and as occupations requiring higher-skilled workers began growing faster than those relying on lower-skilled workers. Among the options that have been explored as ways of preparing these students for middle-skill jobs are the following: cognitive apprenticeship, tech prep, integrated vocational and academic education, career magnet schools and academies, work-based youth apprenticeship, cooperative education, and school-based enterprise. The development and implementation of each option has varied widely. Seven criteria for assessing models for preparing noncollege-bound students for middle-skill jobs have been proposed. The first six focus on the nature of the learning arrangement, and the seventh addresses replication and diffusion of the arrangement. (The bibliography lists 81 references. A separately-published executive summary is appended.) (MN)