The paper compares evaluation requirements established under P.L. 94-103 (Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act) and P.L. 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act). The correspondence of the requirements to traditional evaluation models is noted, and obstacles to implementation of the evaluation procedures are detailed. The nature of requirements for individualized education programs (P.L. 94-142) and individual habilitation plans (P.L. 94-103) is examined, and problems arising from the suggested use of normative models for program evaluation are discussed. Among reasons given for the impracticality of the norm based model are the limited availability of normative measures for low functioning or deviant subpopulations and the occurrence of unusual developmental patterns in handicapped individuals. The under utilization of social program evaluation data is explored and the political nature of evaluation information is discussed. (CL)