The United States Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) conducted a career education assessment during May of 1978 which involved approximately 1,300 nine-, thirteen-, and seventeen-year-old students in three regions. The tests were objective-based, criterion-referenced tests which assessed systemwide student achievement in the areas of basic skills, work habits, career decisions, career plans, and attitudes. Seventy-eight schools were randomly selected to participate; ten percent of the nine-, thirteen-, and seventeen-year-olds in those schools were randomly selected to take the test. Curriculum specialists and teacher groups established minimally acceptable and desirable levels of achievement for each of the 637 items on the test. Performance of the nine-year-old students was farthest below the expectancy ranges. For all program objectives, the nine-year-olds' scores were an average of eleven points below the minimum expectancy, the thirteen-year-olds' scores were an average of four points below, and the seventeen-year-olds' scores were an average of only two points below. However, in more specific instructional areas of communication skills, motor skills, and initiative and ingenuity to fulfill responsibility, DoDDS students performed within expectancy ranges. Several recommendations were made, including emphasis on career education objectives at the elementary and middle school levels and provision of career education in-service training for academic teachers. Appended is an Approved List of Career Education Essential Material. (BM)