It is familiar in the world of systems building that funders start out saying they are not particularly interested in attribution, only to later begin using words like "prove" and "impact." Boards begin by asking for intelligent reflection from the 30,000-foot level and then suddenly want to know how many more children are ready for school.…

The Case of Top Beginnings and the Missing Child Outcomes is a fictionalized case study of a set of evaluation challenges faced in evaluating comprehensive initiatives that are seeking to build systems. In this case, the issue is a multistate foundation-funded early learning system building initiative that has to date primarily employed a case…