There is plentiful discussion about the importance of accountability, but much needs to be done to translate it into a manageable and credible system of ongoing feedback. In this book, evaluative inquiry is used in a way that balances attention between the investigation process and its purpose. The book is divided into three parts. Following an overview of evaluative inquiry, three evaluative-inquiry designs are described. The first design helps in determining the quality of an inquiry program. The second design determines the program's sustainability. The third one determines its cultivation of new principles and practices in the school to achieve whole-school or whole-system change. Each part uses a school situation to illustrate the process. A concluding chapter looks at how to continually improve ongoing evaluative-inquiry practices. The book includes tools such as charts, step-by-step instructions, and forms to help educators understand and implement their program as a hands-on, in-depth evaluation process. Closing comments describe how evaluative inquiry helps develop the capacity of the educational system to manage and integrate an ongoing array of innovations and choices into its way of being. (Contains 68 references and 8 resource Web sites.) (RT)