This book shows how to use evaluation to find effective solutions. The first two chapters introduce evaluation as an administrative function at the school level. Chapter 1 draws on two kinds of literature--educational-administration literature (to survey administrative practices) and educational-evaluation literature (evaluation practiced by professional evaluators). The second chapter introduces a new model of the administrative process and a corresponding instrument for data collection and analysis. The instrument is a systematic checklist pertaining to decisions and evaluations that occur when school administrators face problematic situations. The model includes the description of the situation, the delineation of 4 key decisions that occur during the problem-solving process, and the specification of 22 sets of evaluation scattered among these 4 decisions. Chapter 3 presents 10 interviews with school administrators using the interview protocol described in chapter 2. In total, 30 interviews were conducted with 12 elementary school principals, 6 middle school principals, 6 assistant high school principals, and 6 high school principals in 7 southern California cities. The remaining 20 cases are summarized in Resource A. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 offer different uses of evaluation as part of the problem-driven administrative process. The fourth chapter synthesizes data derived from the 30 interviews for purposes of improved practice. The fifth chapter clarifies some of the characteristics of evaluation itself and the conceptual linkages between evaluations and decisions within the decision-making process. Selected practical applications of the instrument are depicted in the sixth chapter. Six figures and 11 tables are included. Contains 79 references. (LMI)