Case studies of a wide variety of state and local job related education and training programs revealed enough about the range of coordination activities nationally to permit generalizations about the current state of coordination. In a 2-year effort to examine the coordination of vocational education and Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs, little evidence of duplication was found. Some isolated instances of destructive competition, primarily caused by local interest group politics, were found, but evidence of substantial destructive competition in the job training system was not found. Coordination can improve program effectiveness by ensuring that contracts are awarded to the most competent providers; that resources are allocated to the most appropriate education, training, and other job-related services; or by making possible a related set of services that are more effective than their individual components. It was found that collaborative service delivery, rather than collaborative planning, was emphasized, and that collaborative planning does not necessarily lead to the development of more effective programs through the coordination of resources. The emerging role of welfare-to-work programs in the education and training system is discussed and alternatives for federal policy and emerging issues in the "system" of work-related education and training are presented. A 29-item reference list is included. (CML)