This state of the art review on career education focuses on describing the different career education purposes and programs that have emerged in the last few years of growth, examining the published reactions to these by educators and laymen, and proposing, for the consideration of the staff of the School Based Career Education Program of the National Institute of Education (NIE), a coherent and defensible set of purposes and programs which seem worthy of support. Five broadly stated purposes which might be included in national research and development on career education, and which resulted from a classification scheme for career education purposes, are discussed in detail. Briefly stated, these five purposes are matching people and jobs; awareness and capability for adult roles; diverse routes to publicly recognized masteries; comprehend, cope with, and influence the economic-social-political system; and acquire the means for self-support. Formulation of programs and their implementation with students is discussed in terms of factors that should be considered in developing career education programs, types of programs that can be developed, and examples of these various types. It is concluded that there is no single educational program in general or in career education in particular that is suitable on a priori grounds for all students in American schools, and that career educators should work on the assumption that dilemmas not resolvable in general for the whole country might be resolvable in particular localities. Included in the document is "A Practitioner's Guide to Formulating a Curriculum Development Proposal," developed by project staff. (TA)