This model is an updated version of the California Agency-Based Vocational Assessment Model Draft developed in 1986. The first section of the manual summarizes the background of career assessment, defines the process, and provides a rationale for it. The second section analyzes critical issues in assessment. The assessment model and its stages follow. The three stages in the model serve as decision points to determine an individual's readiness for placement into an educational program or a job. Assessment methods are suggested for each stage that range from general career interest interviews and inventories in Stage I to employability and aptitude assessment in Stage II, to job-specific and work-sample assessment procedures in Stage III. The manual provides a list of important questions that should be asked for targeted groups of individuals and suggests methods for each stage of assessment as well as planning documents to record information. Appendixes include sample assessment forms such as an appraisal checklist, individual career plans, individualized transition plans, and employability development plans. A summary report of the California Education Summit of December 12-13, 1989, and a 24-item glossary are also included. (KC)