Materials contained in the 16 volumes that make up the Rural America Series suggest practices through which rural schools can meet local community needs and realize their potential for career program delivery. This handbook, one of five in the subset of program development process documents for the series, outlines procedures on how to conduct a resource assessment and how to categorize the information received from the assessment. Focus is on local resource assessment which involves extensive use of school staff, students, and community members. Guidelines on how to (1) identify local material, human, facilitative, and organizational resources, (2) collect and organize data on resources, (3) develop and use a resource catalog, and (4) update the resource catalog are provided. Numerous forms for obtaining information through surveys are included. (TA)