This document presents the National Health Care Skill Standards, which were developed by the National Consortium on Health Science and Technology and West Ed Regional Research Laboratory, in partnership with educators and health care employers. The document begins with an overview of the purpose and benefits of skill standards. Presented next are overviews of the following groups of core and cluster skill standards: (1) health care (academic foundation, communications, systems, employability, legal responsibility, ethics, safety practices, teamwork, health maintenance practices); (2) therapeutic/diagnostic (intra-team communication, monitoring client status, client interaction, client movement); (3) therapeutic (data collection, treatment planning, implementing procedures, client status evaluation); (4) diagnostic (planning, preparation, procedure, evaluation, reporting); (5) information services (analysis, abstracting and coding, information systems, documentation, operations); and (6) environmental services (operations, aseptic procedures, resource management, aesthetics). A health science career path is outlined and intended to assist health science and technology educators in implementing a contextual approach to linking academic curricula with career pathways that will enable students in elementary, middle, high school, and postsecondary programs to advance through the following five stages: career awareness, career exploration, core standards preparation, core concentrations preparation, and employment. Concluding the document is a list of accountability criteria for national skill standards. (MN)