Examines the Abt Associates, Inc. findings on the effectiveness of Project Follow Through and disputes the report's conclusion that so-called "basic skills" approaches to the schooling of poor children are superior to other methods. (Author)

The evaluation by Abt Associates, Inc., of the Follow Through program, an extension of Head Start designed to improve primary education for disadvantaged children, created a controversy about the program and its assessment, which is discussed in this article. The authors see serious flaws in the evaluation design and interpretation. (MF)

In 1965, Robert Kennedy initiated federal evaluation policy with ESEA. His conception of political accountability was converted into a system of cost benefit analysis, which periodically justified funding curtailments. This systems approach, similar to Taylor's Scientific Management, is inadequate as the sole evaluation tool for federal programs.…

Two reviews of NIE's study of compensatory education are provided in this document. The conclusions of the first reviewer (House) are that: (1) the study is valid because it meets the standards for the evaluation of a public program; and (2) the compensatory programs, especially Title I, are very good. Other conclusions are that the funds'…

This paper presents a discussion of issues raised in the evaluation of Project Follow Through reported by Abt Associates. The paper suggests that many of the problems inherent in the design of both the program and the evaluation stem from the underlying assumption that one educational model could be found which would best alleviate the educational…