Designed as a guide to conducting informal evaluations of middle school programs, the nine sections of this booklet review current thinking on issues of evaluation and offer sample questions to be considered by school evaluation teams. Following introductory materials, the first section reviews the benefits to conducting evaluations of middle-level programs, while the second examines the unique role of middle schools in the education of young adolescents and lists 20 components of exemplary middle schools. Section 3 discusses the major factors to be considered when developing an evaluation plan, and section 4 describes and provides guidelines for evaluation techniques, including surveys and questionnaires, observations, interviews, self-checklists, and shadow studies of representative students' activities. Next, steps for carrying out customized evaluation plans are described in section 5, including: distributing information, organizing a committee, revisiting targeted program components, determining the major purposes of the evaluation, reviewing available evaluation techniques, selecting and training individuals to implement the plan, compiling data, interpreting findings, organizing the information, and determining ways to use results for school improvement. The sixth section presents a case study outlining the goals and techniques of an evaluation conducted at a midwestern middle school, while section 7 describes the use of technology in the case study evaluation. Finally, sections 8 and 9 provide, respectively, tips and samples for writing the evaluation report, and a discussion of effective use of the results. The guide concludes with a "sampler" of evaluation instruments for interdisciplinary teams, the advisory program, classroom instruction, students, faculty, administrators, parents, and support staff. (BCY)