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The Oregon Community Corrections Act was passed in 1977, partly due to the need to relieve overcrowding in the state's prisons. Our research was undertaken to determine whether degrees of successful achievement of the goals of the Act are due to the way in which community corrections legislation is being implemented-and, specifically, to determine if the roles of street-level bureaucrats and modifications of the program during implementation are the keys to successful achievement of goals. In Oregon, we found that there is wide variation from county to county in the way the legislation is being implemented and the degree to which goals are being achieved. Even though not all specific statutory goals are being achieved, the general policy goals are being met. The more successful counties have reached a higher level of implementation in individual and county efforts than the least successful counties. In addition, the former are more likely to have a "fixer" active in getting the program established and making it work, street-level implementors who often have a higher level of commitment to the program, modifications to meet local needs, and a higher degree of support from elected officials and the community.

Already a staple of urban high schools, peer mediation programs are now proliferating in inner‐city elementary and middle schools. Our research questions whether young children, regardless of their location in the urban landscape, have the cognitive capacities to use the problem‐solving technology of mediation. Moreover, it challenges the claim that hostile aggression of inner‐city youths increases with age. Our research points to the contrary claim that violent modes of conflict decrease as children mature. Rather than only promoting mediation technology, we encourage elementary and middle schools to also create discursive space for verbal interaction. This strategy, in combination with the process of maturation, will enable urban youths to work out trouble peacefully.

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The dominant paradigm in evalua,tion research is undergoing serious challenge. This article explores the ideal role of evaluation in decisionmaking, the methodologies for conducting evaluations, the congruence between evaluation methodology and actual organizational behavior, and the relationship between evaluators and program managers. We conclude that although there are serious disparities between the ideal and the actual in each of these four areas, and especially in the congruence between evaluation methodology and organizational behavior, there is not likely to be a change in the dominant paradigm because it is difficult for practitioners to use the language and values of new organizational perspectives.The field of evaluation research is undergoing an identity crisis. From its initial surge in the 1960s when it was dominated by a single paradigm and researchers believed that its potential was unlimited, it has been undergoing a metamorphosis. Instead of a dominant paradigm, several alternative approaches to evaluation have emerged and skepticism about its potential contributions to public policy has been raised. House

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