The School-to-Work movement came together as a major national force for educational reform in the late 1980s and reached its peak in 1994 with the passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Throughout the 1990s, the movement had a substantial record of creativity and accomplishment. Among other things, it hastened the spread of career development activities for all students, strengthened ties between schools and local employers, and supported the creation of many innovative work-based education programs. By the end of the decade, however, the influence of the movement had begun to decline as other reform movements came to dominate the national educational landscape.

The book documents the successes and failures of the STW movement during this dramatic decade and assesses the movement's prospects for the future. The book's chapters are written by the nation's top scholars in the STW field and focus on all aspects of the STW movement. Among the topics covered are STW implementation and participation, career academies, education and employment effects of STW participation, the role of STW programming in the new economy, the college for all movement, and STW pedagogy.