The Sheffield (Great Britain) Occupational Functional Reading Project was organized to study the functional reading required of 16-year-old school leavers who entered employment or training for a job, and to design instruments for assessing and diagnosing occupational functional reading abilities. The primary task of the project was to develop a criterion referenced test. The first steps in the project were to identify and classify job-related reading tasks, and to collect relevant reading materials. The materials were then used to construct test items, which have been stored in a computer bank for the construction of tests. Content validity of the test items was established by panels of experts. Test items were piloted and short and long forms of the prototype test were constructed. This test has been assessed for reliability and used to test a large group of school leavers prior to their actually leaving school. Followup studies of the school leavers in their workplaces are being undertaken, and their employers have been asked to rate them on job performance scales. The predictive validity of the test will be established by relating test scores to performance at work. (RL)