Judge gives fools direction (6)
I believe the answer is:
assess
'judge' is the definition.
(assessing is a kind of judging)
'fools direction' is the wordplay.
'fools' becomes 'asses' (ass is a kind of fool).
'direction' becomes 's' (S is an example).
'asses'+'s'='ASSESS'
'gives' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for assess that I've seen before include "price" , "Estimate value (for tax)" , "Evaluate, estimate" , "Place a value on" , "Reckon value" .)