The Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) program was designed to provide on-site vocational experiences for high school youth in order to promote career development skills and knowledge, and knowledge of one's own interests, abilities, and values. The following skills were also emphasized: reading, problem solving, oral communication, writing, interpersonal relationships, basic mathematics, and maturation. Aimed primarily toward program replicators, this evaluation of the EBCE program in Charleston, West Virginia, 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 research 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 student-learning coordinator relationship; and work experience placements. The experiences of three EBCE students are described. (BW)