This sourcebook presents information about three types of federal decision makers who are frequent clients of evaluation: career government executives; political appointees; and congressional staff members. Differences among these decision makers are highlighted in seven articles, with emphasis on meeting client needs and process dimensions of…

Some programs for helping at-risk youth achieve excellent results, while others do not. One reason for program success can be proper management. Mentoring is a promising strategy for helping at-risk youth. Planners who want to create effective mentoring programs should look at the implementation experiences of other youth programs. Evaluations…

Mentoring has a mystique that only good can come from it, that at the worst, mentoring programs will not accomplish all that they could, but the youth served will at least be better for the experience. Both impact and process evaluations are needed to answer questions about the real benefits and any potential adverse effects of mentoring. The…

This document is the first volume of a projected quarterly publication designed to assure that the most current information, both on the latest research and on successful practices in the field of gifted education is made available to schools as quickly and efficiently as possible. The four issues of this volume contain the following articles:…