This report presents the initial investigation of a longitudinal research effort to study various factors related to current development. The value of this study is its potential value in increasing the understanding of circumstances under which certain behaviors occur. In particular, this study has attempted to evaluate the usefulness of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) in providing valid information to ninth grade students who are considering entrance into the senior high school vocational curriculum. The study was conducted using a sample of 92 10th grade boys in the 14 vocational shops of the Altoona area vocational-technical school. Based on the findings of this study, it appears that the GATB does provide useful information for the ninth grade student who is contemplating entrance into the senior high school vocational curriculum. Also, it can be hypothesized that the GATB is superior to other aptitude measures in predicting shop achievement because it contains manipulative as well as cognitive aptitudes. Its value to counselors may thus lie in its ability to assess youngsters' potential motor skill development. (CH)