1. Evaluation Leadership

A 2019 Alabama law created the Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services, which catalogs and evaluates public services statewide. The commission, composed of state legislators and Governor’s Office staff, determines the effectiveness of public services in order to make informed funding recommendations for state leaders.

The Colorado Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) and its director lead the use of data and evidence in the state’s budget process through the review of state agency budget requests based upon their level of evidence and evaluation to inform priority policy and budget decisions. This office engages with the University of Denver’s Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab as well as the Colorado Evidence-Based Policy Collaborative composed of state agency representatives and community organizations. The office also administers a $500,000 annual fund for program evaluation and implementation grants, which provides competitive funding for agencies to undertake evaluation and implementation science projects. OSPB continuously engages with the legislative branch to determine how evidence can be better utilized in the budget process.

With the large influx of the America Rescue Plan Act (ARP), OSPB has applied the evidence continuum as a cornerstone of its decision-making process to ensure the strongest outcomes for residents. The Governor’s Office is evaluating all ARP-funded programs against the evidence continuum and includes information on evidence-based practices in all federal reports.

Pursuant to Section 10 of HB 5506, the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) is creating an Evaluation and Impact unit, with support from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). The unit will be responsible for coordinating evaluation and impact for investments through ARPA, working closely with state agencies, subrecipients and applied researchers and evaluators. OPM has developed an Evidence and Evaluation guide and the new unit will help to develop evaluation plans and to coordinate access to state data resources and will focus on providing ‘hands-on’ support and guidance to recipients of funds and assist in collecting and synthesizing evidence for reporting and communications. In addition, OPM has published data on ARPA and CRF allocations to the open data portal and will continue to develop online resources for these in 2022.

Executive Order #4, signed by Governor John Carney on February 16, 2017, established the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) to develop recommendations for increasing efficiency and effectiveness across State government, improve the strategic planning process, improve the use of metrics in resource allocation decisions, and develop continuous improvement practices. GEAR is a long-term initiative. GEAR Board meetings are posted to the State’s online public meeting calendar. Public participation and comments are encouraged. The Board has met thirty-five times since its formation. The Board has established multiple critical focus areas, identified team leadership and members, completed written charters identifying process and program optimization opportunities, and initiated and completed numerous projects with measurable outcomes to take advantage of these opportunities.

The Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) exists to support the Legislature in monitoring and improving the performance of State government by conducting independent, objective reviews of State programs and activities with a focus on effectiveness, efficiency, and economical use of resources. Within this context, OPEGA also evaluates compliance with laws, regulations, policies and procedures. The independence and authorities granted to OPEGA by statute provide the Legislature with a valuable supplement to policy committee oversight. 3 MRSA § 997 contains provisions that provide access to information, even confidential records, that allow a more in-depth look at government operations. This Office is run by a director and staffed by a team localized to OPEGA.

Minnesota Management and Budget has a Chief Data and Evaluation Officer who leads the team with the authority, staff, and budget to collect, analyze, share, and use data to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of public programs and inform policy decisions affecting them. This team supports evidence-based initiatives in the state in three primary ways: identifying evidence-based programs and measuring efficacy; providing technical assistance to improve evidence-based initiatives; and tracking the use of evidence in policy making over time (policy maker survey and tracking of evidence in state grants). An example of how these services come together can be seen in the relationship between the Results Management team and the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council.

The first role of the team is identifying public services that have high quality evidence demonstrating their efficacy and supporting the State’s efforts to fund such initiatives. These efforts include inventorying services offered by the State, considering existing evidence sources for programs, and conducting experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations where sufficient evidence does not exist.

Second, Results Management is responsible for building capabilities relating to evidence-based policy at the state-wide level and supports evidence- and evaluation-focused teams within other state, county, and local organizations. This support includes technical assistance to improve evidence-based initiatives: providing guidance on developing performance measures, collecting and reporting performance data, and developing best practices and providing reviews to support impactful grants with an evidence basis.

Finally, the Results Management team tracks the use of evidence by policy makers through an annual survey of legislative, county, and executive decision makers. In the past, surveys have demonstrated a high degree of interest in program efficacy data, while highlighting a lack of access to this information. This survey allows the Results team to identify needs for additional evidence-based work and to make the case for continued investment in these initiatives.

North Carolina is deepening efforts and investment in evaluation leadership and governance:    

In 2022, the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) created a Chief Scientist position – first in the nation – to provide statewide leadership, ideas, and technical expertise toward increasing the generation and use of evidence for government decision-making.

In December 2022 and January 2023, the NC Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) hired two new Evidence Advisors. Their work to date has included conducting evidence reviews and syntheses of state policies and programs and working with state agencies to develop and execute evaluations to build evidence around agencies’ priority research questions and strategic goals. The Evidence Advisors are also working with the NC Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) to support the development of its research agenda.    

Using federal relief funds, the NC Department of Public Instruction created the Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration (OLR) to help NC schools navigate the challenges of the pandemic. Led by a Director of Research and Evaluation, OLR’s mission is to serve public school units by providing the research and support necessary to make evidence-based decisions to combat learning loss and accelerate learning for all students.  

Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) in partnership with Governor Tina Kotek’s administration established an Office of Strategic Initiatives and Enterprise Accountability (SIEA) in February 2023. SIEA was charged with implementing Oregon Agency Expectations, which is based on measures of operational excellence such as strategic planning, employee engagement, and competitive hiring practices. Each measure was outlined in a letter from Governor Kotek. Long term this will result in monitoring and evaluation of progress towards operational excellence and process improvement across all state agencies.

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Executive Order 2023-01 established the Pennsylvania Longitudinal Data System (PALDS), headed by an Executive Director. The EO’s intent is to bring together independent data sets related to education, workforce, and human services that would allow state agencies and policy makers to: understand long-term outcomes and contribute to better informed funding and policy decisions; spend less time finding and validating disparate data sources and more time analyzing it; establish transparent, trackable goals; develop partnerships to identify key research questions, performance measures, and outcomes; align investments to effective programming; and demonstrate progress towards workforce system goals and recommendations. The EO also established a Governance Board to coordinate evaluation of policy and use of findings. The PALDS program efforts also are guided by the Director of Research for the Governor’s Office who works cross-department and cross-agency to track and identify the Administration’s impact on the Commonwealth.

Executive Order 2023-05 created the new position of Commonwealth Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) who will enhance Pennsylvania’s ability to evaluate policy and process and will work to take a data-centric approach to reform initiatives. The CTO and the Office of Transformation and Opportunity have the ability to convene multiple agencies and stakeholders, both public and private, to evaluate policies and processes for efficiency and effectiveness. Initial endeavors have focused on improving efficiencies in permitting, licensure, and professional certifications, as well as increasing the percentage of the Commonwealth’s procurement spend on small and diverse businesses.

Washington has the infrastructure to support program evaluation and reporting. While most states have external auditing functions, it is notable that Washington has several internal facing entities: The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (legislative branch), State Auditor’s Office Performance Audit section (separately elected), and the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (nonpartisan research on behalf of the legislature) provide evaluation services. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’ Research and Data Analysis (RDA) division conducts evaluations for state partner agencies using a unique integrated client database. The Department of Children, Youth and Families Office of Innovation, Alignment, and Accountability, the Office of Financial Management’s Washington Data and Research Office, and the Education Research and Data Center, are other examples in addition to DSHS-RDA where executive branch agencies are staffed with substantial evaluation and analytic staff.

The Program Evaluation Section and the Management Audit Committee is the primary evaluative apparatus for Wyoming, evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of programs and analyzing related policy issues. The Management Audit Committee (a statutorily created committee of 11 legislators) selects programs to be evaluated. Once a topic is selected, Program Evaluation staff begin the evaluation process. The main evaluation process culminates in an evaluation report that is presented to the Committee in executive session. At that time, the Committee either releases the report to the public or requests “supplemental” research to be added or amended into the report before releasing it. Once the report is released, legislators, agencies, other officials, and the public can use the information to improve statutes, policies, and program operations.