During two academic years (1991–1992, 1992–1993), four new model curricula for the college‐level, calculus‐based introductory physics course were tested. A total of nine colleges and universities around the country participated in this test. This paper provides an overview of the evaluation process. The evaluation was independent—that is, it was not linked to the model developers or to the sites, nor was it directly implemented by the group that sponsored the project, the Introductory University Physics Project. At each site, we set out to study both ‘‘model’’ and ‘‘comparison’’ sections of the introductory physics course. There was a pre‐ and post‐test, and some limited use of in‐class questionnaires. Faculty members and roughly 10% of the students were asked to keep journals. Each test site was visited by an evaluator at least twice during each academic year. This paper provides some of the background necessary to assess the results of the IUPP evaluation. Some evaluation results from the 1991–1992 field tests are included in the following paper [R. Di Stefano, Am. J. Phys.64(1), 58–68 (1996)]. The main body of our results, including those focusing on the 1992–1993 trials, will be presented in later papers.