The report evaluates the first year's operation of an employer-based career education project in Philadelphia, the Academy for Career Education, which recruited 107 participants, the majority of whom were 16 year-old 11th graders who had performed poorly in their sending schools, but have close-to-average IQ scores. Three standardized testing instruments indicated that during the year the students progressed more rapidly in reading, arithmetic, and language skills, understanding basic economic concepts, and the affective dimension of learning than they would have in public school. The employer systems instructional activities (career explorations, career specializations, and world of work seminars) merited positive evaluations except for the world of work seminars. The instructional systems component (individualized learning center, electives, and physical education) merited a mixed evaluation. In the student personnel systems component (life skills, exploration, and specialization), the student records system was found unsatisfactory, the counseling system satisfactory. In the management systems component, facilities were judged inadequate, administrative systems adequate. The evaluation concludes that employers in the Philadelphia area are willing and able to successfully provide the learning activities which have been termed career exploration and specialization. It ends with various recommendations for improving the project. (JR)