A student and school staff needs assessment was conducted to determine the career education needs of South Carolina students in the elementary, middle/junior high schools, and senior high schools. The special needs of handicapped and other educationally disadvantaged students were also considered. The needs assessment procedure was structured on the following seven basic elements of career education: self-knowledge; decision-making skills; career awareness; economic awareness; educational awareness; attitudes and appreciations; and social awareness. The study was based on a stratified random sample of forty-seven counties and included a total of 108 classrooms at the fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade levels. Results were analyzed and compared to national career education needs assessments. Some of the findings include the following: (1) on the elementary level, significant needs exist for provisions for a local needs assessment, identification of school and community resources, and increased emphasis on the use of counselors and testing to help students identify their interests and aptitudes; (2) on the middle/junior high and senior high school levels, significant needs exist for a local needs assessment, formal implementation plan, inservice training, released time and planned conferences for materials development, field trips, and evaluation of career education efforts; and (3) for handicapped/disadvantaged students, critical needs exist in the area of career education opportunities offered to all students with special emphasis at the high school level on matching the interests and aptitudes of individual students with future occupational possibilities. (Two related documents are available--a user's manual to assist local education agencies in evaluating career education in their schools [CE 018 805] and a detailed description of the instruments used to assess South Carolina's career education status [CE 018 806].) (BM)