My name is Sana Ahmed Wilder, and I’m a program evaluator for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
A five year old’s birthday is a big deal. It may be the first they’ll actually remember, a milestone celebrating increased independence, and the last one before launch into formal education; yep, I’m talking Kindergarten. So, a very happy and important 5th birthday to the Evidence Act!
In case you didn’t have a chance to read Sunday’s post, the Evidence Act was a bipartisan measure passed in 2019 to support the federal government’s collection and use of data in making policy decisions. It was designed to help government work more effectively and efficiently. Over the past five years, federal evidence has matured and expanded, creating an ecosystem where data can be more widely collected, analyzed, and shared with the goal of better public policies.
At the system-level, the Office of Budget and Management (OMB) has issued guidance and regulations for agencies to create and document a culture of evidence via learning agendas and annual evaluation plans, even outlining social, behavioral, and scientific methodologies that can contribute to furthering agencies’ missions and operations. Within its recommendations, OMB has highlighted the importance of participatory, inclusive approaches too, such as community engagement and outreach to incorporate the evidence that lived experiences of American people provide into government programs.
Federal laws have also required some structural innovations, such as creating an inventory of federal agency programs, a government-wide secure data service to link statistical data, and creation of a commission to communicate recommendations to Congress about evidence-building and evidence-based policymaking. Executive orders encouraging best practices in science, data, and evidence stood up working groups, task forces, and teams to advance equity, transparency, and industry and academic partnerships. One of the important areas where learning and improvements were especially emphasized was in the American Rescue Plan. It mandated evaluations of some COVID-response programs.
At the department and agency level, there have been structural changes as well. Agencies have bolstered program evaluation efforts by designating evaluation officers, chief data officers, and statistical officials to develop and oversee execution of agencies’ enterprise learning agendas, capacity assessments, and annual evaluation plans to strategize progress. To centralize this wealth of information, evaluation.gov was launched as a resource (and where you can find the plans referenced here).
Speaking about resources, along with supporting increased organizational capacity between and within government agencies, the Evidence Act propelled enhanced resource capacity. Agencies didn’t just budget and hire data evaluators like me, but also supported the training and growth of analysts, researchers, data scientists, and other folks through interagency webinars and conferences.
As with any 5-year-old, it’s easy to envision the endless possibilities for successes ahead. I look forward to further integration of evidence into the core functions of government processes, thus growing the culture of evidence-building. I hope that we can be more responsive to requests by finding more ways to work with partners in academia and industry. And I am happy to be a small part of a big community that’s moving the needle in solving the nation’s challenges.
Rad Resources
For detail into these federal-wide changes, check out Results for Americas The Power of Evidence to Drive America’s Progress: A Decade of Results and Potential for the Future by Christina Ciocca Eller.
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