The School-to-Work Opportunities Act was signed into law in 1994 and is administered under the auspices of the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor. The Act provides funds to States and local communities to develop School-to-Work systems. School-to-Work is a method of attaining high academic standards through applied, contextual, and focused learning. School-to-Career supports reforms in the educational system that include the union of school-based and work-based learning, teaching strategies, and the opportunity for students to choose career-related course work and workplace experiences, with equal access for all students. School to Work programs connect the traditional classroom experience to the real-world work situation. To assist students in guiding their education, School-to-Work encourages, among other things, offers students exposure to a broad variety of career options such as starting with guest speakers and field trips in elementary school and progressing to academically connected internships in a high school student's field of interest. The underlying goal is to provide students with knowledge and skills that will allow them to opt for college, additional training, meet the challenges of a highly competitive workplace as well as a well-paying job directly out of high school.

In a traditional classroom, students are passive recipients of a teacher's lecture. The traditional classroom setting places a greater burden of responsibility on the instructor because the instructor must make the decisions about the learning content, method of instruction as well as evaluation. In a School-to-Work classroom, students are asked for input as to their interest and are allowed to choose their goals and career majors. This gives the school-to Work student greater power to make his or her own decisions in which they are more responsible for what they receive as far as learning and more responsibility if they do not get what they wanted to out of the program.

There are three elements to School-to-Work based learning; school-based learning, work-based learning and connecting activities. School-based learning is done in the classroom and provides a foundation to students leading up to work-based learning.