The Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) program was designed to provide on-site vocational experiences for high school youth in order to promote: (1) career development skills and knowledge; (2) self-knowledge--interests, abilities, and values; (3) reading skills; (4) problem solving skills; (5) oral communication; (6) writing skills; (7) interpersonal skills; (8) basic quantitative skills; and (9) maturation skills. Aimed primarily toward program replicators, this evaluation of the EBCE program at the Far West School, Oakland, California, systematically describes the overt and covert structures of the program, and compares its actual operations with its theoretical design. An ethnographic approach was used to study the behavior of program participants: students, staff, and others. The initial research effort began with the construction of a model of the social structure, and continued with efforts to get to know the students. As intimacy with a group of students increased, the school's covert structure emerged. The final phase of the research included interviews with students and staff. Several issues of concern to EBCE replicators are highlighted: the student's attitude toward the program at the time of entry; the setting, the planned activities, and the staff; and the students' growth in career and personal maturity. Four case studies illustrate students' learning experiences. (Author/CTM)