The chronic scarcity of career jobs and increased demands for mental ability in the workplace have necessitated school-to-work (STW) transition programs that prepare noncollege-bound youths not only for their first full-time job but also for continued learning and career transitions throughout their working lives. Among the main ideas advanced for improving the STW system are integrating occupational and academic curricula, linking school with structured work experience, and creating formal connections between secondary and postsecondary education. STW programs may be classified as either school-and-work arrangements that allow students to work and attend school during the same time period or else school-for-work program that provide instruction for the express purpose of preparing students for work. School-and-work programs exist in many high schools, secondary vocational centers, and two-year colleges. Two new innovations prompted partly by the 1990 Perkins Amendments are integration of vocational and academic curricula and tech prep programs linking high schools and two-year colleges. Numerous studies have examined these new STW programs/strategies; however, the research has remained limited in several respects. (Appended are examples of STW programs/program elements and their locations. An 85-item bibliography and 34 figures/tables are included. Contains 235 references.) (MN)