The thesis of this paper is that the humanistic mode of inquiry is underemployed in evaluation studies and the future evaluation of Follow Through could profitably use humanistic approaches. The original Follow Through evaluation was based on the assumption that the world consists of a single system explainable by appropriate methods; the…

The evaluators of Push/Excel assumed that it was a systematically developed program with measurable outcomes, not a charismatically inspired movement whose effects would be hard to pin down. As a result, neither the program nor the evaluation approach used were adequately tested. (Author)

Initiated in 1964, the Illnois gifted program provided funds for development of local gifted programs by local districts. General purposes and criteria for individual programs were realized with varying success. Gifted programs increased and were extended to less wealthy and smaller districts; techniques and inservice education spilled over into…