Evaluation and Analytics to Improve, Not Just Evaluate, Program Performance

The 2019 Evidence Act’s purpose is to build and share knowledge relevant to the objectives federal agencies seek to advance, and then apply that knowledge to federal funding and other activities to realize better government and real-world results. As agencies create learning agendas for themselves, conduct evaluations, and share and analyze their data, they will be able to gather and disseminate important evidence on which programs advance progress and which do not. But will this evaluation and evidence-building capacity also be used to improve program performance? Expanding on a panel about how agencies can engage external stakeholders in creating their learning agendas at the Urban Institute on January 23rd, 2020, Dr. Metzenbaum suggested that the questions asked in learning agendas should not only focus on whether or not a program works, but also—and arguably more important—on how to improve the program. Evidence, including that from data analytics and evaluations, can enhance public programs in many ways — detect problems and opportunities, set priorities, design treatments, assess programs and practices, and adapt processes for continual improvement.

Read the full blog here.