Program evaluation: relationships as key to student development.

Evaluation is an important program component of RALLY and helps to document the gains that stem from this program. This article describes the quality of RALLY implementation and selected student outcomes of an exemplary RALLY program at an urban middle school. The findings showed effects on students' resiliency as well as academic success, as indicated by student, practitioner, and teacher reports. The practitioners and teachers also reported a decrease in students' behavioral problems. Relationships to practitioners and a developmental orientation proved to be of key significance for changes in students' resiliency and academic outcomes.