This chapter describes the history and demise of the service-learning component of a teacher education program. Beginning in 1968, service learning was a self-directed, community-based program within the student-teaching practicum at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Students were responsible for matching their learning needs with placement opportunities within the community and then providing at least 30 hours of service. By the late 1980s, program staff were exploring innovations to deepen the role of service learning in professional development, but were also struggling to defend program legitimacy and relevance to teacher education. An evaluation of the program in 1990 showed that it was meeting its mandate and confirmed that students valued self-directed, experiential opportunities as part of their professional preparation. Nevertheless, the program was terminated after 24 years of operation. Program structure and history show that the major factor in termination was pressure for budget reductions based on severe cutbacks in funding to universities. In retrospect, it is suggested that the evaluation neglected to appreciate the struggles of an organization under pressure to down-size and conserve; to address the concerns of all stakeholders involved; to identify contributions to organizational restructuring that could be made by service learning; and to examine the benefits and losses to the university should the program be terminated. Recent developments in evaluation practice encourage careful consideration of the structural, cultural, and political elements of organization; the context these elements provide for programs; and the experiences and information that may be necessary if organizations are to learn from evaluation data. Care should be taken to investigate the purposes that can best be served by evaluation, and to identify the methods of inquiry that will adequately serve those purposes. (Contains 10 references.) (TD)