The evaluation strategies and results for Title I programs were compared and contrasted. Two systems of evaluation to examine the nature and effectiveness of Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I programs nationwide were implemented. The first involved sponsoring national studies, including the Study of the Sustaining Effects of Compensatory Education and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The other strategy (the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System-TIERS) utilized a system of aggregating locally-implemented evaluations at the state and federal levels. It was implemented nationally in 1979-80. Information was collected through different means for each strategy. TIERS was universally implemented, while national studies sampled only a small portion of projects. TIERS permitted use of multiple instruments, but national studies generally adopted one specific test. The purpose of the evaluation strategies was to determine what types of compensatory education services were provided and to whom, and how effective services were at improving educational achievement. (DWH)