This paper presents arguments for changing a portion of current federal policy for evaluating Chapter 1 grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Chapter 1, part of the federal Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA), provides funds to schools and districts to improve education for economically disadvantaged students. The paper advocates that multiple measures and some local selection of appropriate measures of program quality be used in addition to appropriate achievement outcome measures to determine which programs need school improvement. In addition, alternatives to norm-referenced standardized tests should be permitted as achievement outcome measures. In making the argument for these changes, the paper reviews norm-referenced tests, types of achievement performance missing from current tests, subject matter content missing from current tests, what the new performance assessments are, details of the current policy for program evaluation, and the LEAs' response to these provisions. Later sections argue that this is a good time to rethink evaluation requirements, that the current policy is less effective, and that performance assessments should be available for use in Chapter 1 programs. A final section discusses how to balance a program-specific array of instruments for evaluation. Included is a 12-item bibliography. (JB)