Wartime conditions created a new interest in school-and-work programs for educators because the realities of employment were brought closer to the schools, and for those concerned with the protection of young workers because of the necessity for safeguarding the interests of these young people while on the job. School-and-work programs, under which high school boys and girls are released from some school time to take part-time jobs, gained sudden popularity during the war as a means of meeting demands of employers for young workers and the desire of students to become wage earners, as well as to help in the war effort. The U. S. Office of Education and the Children's Bureau collaborated on a joint study of school-and-work programs in American high schools. The study is not comprehensive in the sense of including all types of programs which involve combined school attendance and employment; rather, it was limited to inquiries to those programs which involved release from school time in order that the student might work for pay. In this report the wartime experiences of 136 school systems in 37 States with such programs are examined, the operation of the programs described, and their strengths and weaknesses analyzed. On the basis of the findings several suggestions are made for the use of school administrators considering establishment of school-and-work programs in the future: (1) The program must be justified on the basis of true educational value to the students; (2) School supervision must be relied on to conserve the health and strength of students undertaking this double program and to protect them from hazardous or unhealthful employment; and (3) A school-to-work program must rest on a foundation of genuine value to industry and to the community. Appended is the letter of inquiry addressed from the U. S. Office of Education to school officials concerning school-and-work programs. (Contains 1 footnote.) [Best copy available has been provided.]