Evaluation and decentralization are major concerns of current educational policy in many countries. In this book, an international group of contributors connect the enduring themes of central government control and local freedom, and the use and dissemination of knowledge to the practicalities of school life and administration within democratic societies. After setting the Norwegian context in Marit Granheim's article, the book goes on to examine the theoretical foundations of evaluation within its government setting. It then focuses on some of the technical issues surounding the use of evalution as an instrument for the improvement of policy and practice. Finally, it looks at evaluation in the USA and Sweden before going on to consider how it might beneficially be introduced in the decentralized Norwegian educational system. Although grounded in current Norwegian policy perspectives, the aim and scope of this book are universal, placing an emphasis on evaluation as something which should be and is context-specific, rather than a set of abstractions to be imposed from above or outside.