An approach to evaluation initiated by the Kellogg Foundation called cluster evaluation (not to be confused with cluster sampling) is described. Cluster evaluation provides a skilled, credible evaluator to work with a cluster of projects to assure that useful and defensible information is obtained for program evaluation. (SLD)

The experience of 10 years evaluating HIV risk-reduction intervention for drug users leads to the argument that program outreach workers are part of the intervention continuum and have important effects on service delivery. Improving pre-enrollment data collection will address evaluation issues raised by pre-enrollment outreach contacts. (SLD)

Data about outpatient treatment unit follow-up evaluations drawn from selected evaluation items in the recent National Drug Abuse Treatment Survey are reported. Directors and supervisors of 670 units completed surveys describing the follow-up studies. The majority of programs collecting follow-up data used the information for program change. (SLD)

This article describes an ongoing survey that illustrates how evaluators, working with program managers, have effectively used client-based data to monitor performance in the Social Security Administration. The value of client-based data outweighs the limitations and problems collecting it. Customer perceptions are a critical barometer of quality.…

Hypertextual ways to think about evaluation are explored, and hypertext computer programs are discussed. Hypertext is useful as a way to search out and link related material. It can help maintain, manipulate, and analyze nonnumerical evaluation data. (SLD)

The efforts of a committee to involve stakeholders, faculty in a department of nursing, in a program evaluation for accreditation, are described. Experiences over a five-year period are described, with an emphasis on strategies that fostered success. Implications for other educational evaluations are reviewed. (SLD)

Practices in needs assessment are reviewed since 1981, the year the federal government changed the role it plays in promoting needs assessment in the public sector. The review is based on reports published to 1993 and indicates that needs assessment is flourishing in a variety of settings. (SLD)

Difficulties faced in evaluations that include data in a language not native to the evaluators or that lie outside the evaluators' cultural experience are discussed. Improvements to credibility and fairness from using a cross-cultural, bilingual evaluation are described and illustrated through evaluation of a language immersion program in Hawaii.…