A systems approach is applied to the assessment of the Model 4 project (administered by Mountain-Plains Education and Economic Development Program, Inc.), a residential career education program for rural, multiproblem families in the States of Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The program involves three phases of career education (awareness of various career opportunities, exploration of the universe of career opportunities, and actual career or occupational preparation) and the acquisition of the competencies of: job-getting, job-holding, and job progression; effective interaction with economic and related social aspects of society; effective family management; satisfaction with job and life. The curriculum system is a production process cycle producing changes in students intended to correspond with desired competencies; it is individualized, competency-based, and applicable to rural disadvantaged. Five phases of Model 4 correspond generally to the five years of funding: conceptualization, feasibility testing, program development; program evaluation, replication/diffusion. To determine the status of Model 4 nationally, a study of six family-residential education programs revealed Mountain Plains representing the most advanced stage of evaluation of the family residential educational approach and Model 4 having the most comprehensive innovative form. (EA)