Data on student characteristics, student attitudes, career plans, occupational aspirations and expectations, vocational maturity, interests, skills, and aptitudes were obtained for 205 students enrolled in 10 Wisconsin vocational agriculture pilot programs. A formative evaluation yielded the following major conclusions: (1) The pilot programs attracted students with non-farm backgrounds, (2) The pilot program did not employ the traditional 4-year sequence of courses in agriculture, (3) Non-farm students enrolled in the courses with very little prior occupational experience, (4) Students enrolled on an elective basis and for exploratory reasons, (5) Previous occupational experience affected career plans, (6) Residence affected career plans, (7) Students with a farm background and previous occupational experience may possess more vocational maturity than students without such experiences, (8) The students viewed themselves as possessing high interest, skill, and aptitude in outdoor and mechanical vocations, (9) Vocational agriculture enrollment in seven of the nine pilot schools increased in excess of the male population of the school, and (10) The ninth grade students of the pilot program schools had recorded IQ scores in the normal or average range but had achieved below average academically. (DM)