Recent educational policy changes at the federal, state, and local levels, coupled with the current economic crisis, will have a significant impact on the nature of program evaluation and on the emphasis placed upon it, according to the authors of this report. The document describes the evaluation requirements contained in the three chapters of the federal Education Consolidation and Improvement Act and asserts upon analysis of the law that needs assessemnt, program implementation evaluation, descriptive evaluation, management evaluation, cost effectiveness, outcome evaluation, and sustained gain evaluation components should be incorporated into state and local education agencies' programs. Assuming that the costs and information yields of these processes will determine their value, the authors assess the likelihood of their adoption under various conditions. After noting some major trends in evaluation, including increased utilization of evaluation and qualitative methodology, and a tendency to adapt methods from such disciplines as journalism, philosophy, and business, the document concludes with predictions regarding evaluation policy and practice during the 1980's. These predictions include reduced emphasis on large-scale summative evaluations and program evaluations, failure of the trend toward qualitative evaluation, increased use of auditing methods, and a growing emphasis on new electronic technology. (Author/PGD)