The digest presents an overview of program evaluation in gifted and talented education. Reasons for program evaluation are offered, including the need to base decision making on valid and reliable data and the demands of accountability. Eight purposes of program evaluation are briefly considered: (1) documentation of the need for a program; (2) documentation of the case for a particular approach; (3) documentation of the feasibility of a program; (4) documentation of program implementation; (5) identification of program strengths and weaknesses; (6) provision of data for in-progress revisions of the program; (7) documentation of the results or impacts of the program; and (8) explanation and description of the program to interested and uninformed audiences. Steps in developing effective evaluation designs are traced, including basic steps of planning and identifying both decision makers and key evaluation questions. Two final sections address selection of evaluation instruments and reporting of findings. (CL)