A rationale is presented for both investigating the context of educational organizations and building in a program renewal capacity as an essential operational component of every such organization. The findings of several program evaluation studies conducted at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Education are reviewed. These studies were designed to collect internal and external indicators of the strengths and weaknesses of the program. The results show that the faculty is providing leadership, research, and service. However, interviews with 107 of the beginning teachers revealed a great number of problems they face in their first year. Companion documents examine other aspects of the teacher evaluation program. (Author/MLF)