This handbook is part of the materials in the Skills for Adult Guidance Educators (SAGE) system, which provides instruction in a set of necessary competencies specifically designed for adult education counselors, teachers, and paraprofessionals. The materials provide a process for developing and implementing counseling and guidance programs unique to different program settings, target populations, and local conditions. Recommended for all users of the materials as an aid in getting maximum benefit from use of the total system, the handbook provides information relative to project replication procedures, understanding of SAGE materials, and usability of the training system in local educational settings. Prime emphasis is placed on the establishment and implementation of adult student personnel programs. Section l presents perspectives and orientation to the Adult Career Education Counseling Project, which developed SAGE. Section 2 explains the interrelationships among the documents comprising the system: Handbook, Twelve Packages, and Answer Key. (These materials are available separately.) Two subsections catalog information on general titles of packages, role statements, and modules. Section 3 articulates the projects's training model for module development. It suggests specific steps for individual module-development activities with recommendations for program implementation and evaluation. Section 4 describes the project's conceptual model, which is based on psychological premises of life stage, life style, life space, and life planning. It discusses the project's assumptions about the dynamics of human behavior. (YLB)