A 3-year university-based inservice training model for personnel serving handicapped preschoolers (aged 0-5) in rural New Mexico has been comprised of seven major steps: establishment of traineeships, information dissemination/recruitment, selection of trainees, needs assessment, development of coursework, training, and evaluation. Twenty-eight trainees representing 23 of New Mexico's 32 counties have received 5 weeks of intensive didactic training and hands-on experience through the third year of the project and all have agreed to provide follow-up inservice training in their home or contiguous counties upon request. Stated criteria for six of eight outputs were obtained or surpassed during the first 22 months of the project (one output was not measured due to lack of a satisfactory observation instrument). Major problems encountered included a fixed budget coupled with rising costs, lack of follow-up activities by some former trainees, and delays brought about by faculty assignments which conflicted with the director's quarter-time project responsibilities. Project spin-offs included: recognition by various state, regional, and national groups; materials requested and supplied for field-based training purposes; and involvement of the director on a state planning task force for early childhood education of the handicapped. (BRR)