One aspect of a nationwide survey dealt with the extent to which the attribution theory might be used to help account for students' perceptions of their successes and failures at employer sites. The study involved 1,102 high school students enrolled in 18 experience-based career education programs in 16 states. Respondents indicated the degree to which various worksite factors contributed to an excellent or poor working experience. The six most highly rated reasons why certain job-site experiences resulted in excellent learning (success) were related to effort and skill. The six most highly rated reasons why experiences resulted in little or no learning (failure) were related to boring aspects of the tasks themselves. Students from some ethnic backgrounds rated easy and challenging tasks significantly differently than did those from others. Major differences among students were also found when considering grade point average and grade level. Results showed that some variables from previous attribution theory research--effort and ability--were found to be important as reasons given by students to explain success, but not failure, at employer sites and supported previous findings that different types of students have different attribution patterns. (YLB)