This paper presents some alternative approaches to conventional curriculum evaluation (such as survey questionaires and test instruments); it is divided into four chapters. Chapter I is a brief introduction to the paper and offers some new conceptions for evaluation in social studies. Chapter II outlines three perspectives which might be considered in evaluation activities: first, an evaluator may analyze and judge the methods used in a program on how well they help educators achieve goals; second, an evaluator may focus on the perceptions which participants (students, teachers, parents, and administrators) have of a program; and third, an evaluator may focus on the foundations of a program, including its underlying values, assumptions, and the worth of its goals. Chapter III outlines a method of evaluation which is attentive to the meanings teachers and students bring to the classroom; each person in the classroom responds to things, events, ideas, other persons, and groups in many ways and assigns a variety of meanings. Chapter IV discusses four different evaluation paradigms that vary with the viewpoint of the evaluator. Each of the viewpoints is discussed in terms of three aspects: goal of research, mode of understanding, and method(s) of research. Bibliographies for each chapter are included. (Author/JK)