A new Joint Comprehensive Evaluation System for the assessment of 15 different federal programs has been developed by the U.S. Office of Education. In this system these diverse program services will be thought of as resources available to meet the needs of critical target groups. Using this approach, a set of nine crucial questions that need to be answered in program management have been developed. The evaluative design for finding the answers to these questions proposes to use the individual pupil as the unit of analysis. By use of sample survey methods and multiple matrix sampling where different individuals complete different samples of test items it will be possible to collect comparable and generalizable data without putting an undue testing burden on any one student. The data collection instruments are discussed in some detail. (DG)