ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the evidence about effectiveness, raises questions about the roles and content of evaluation for flagship and fleet programs in this newly emerging policy and service arena and suggests evaluation strategies that may prove to be particularly useful in the future. It begins with a critical overview of past evaluation practice and discusses the utility of describing and evaluating family support and education programs in accord with ecological theories of human development. The chapter also reviews evidence from flagship programs that ventured beyond such limited child measures, summarizes what people know about the programs in terms of the questions policy makers ask about them and also suggests a set of research and policy questions for the future. It examines the integrative role these programs may play in the broader context of current debates about diverse social reform efforts and lays out a set of cautions and challenges for the next round of family support and education program evaluation.
