Tennessee

The office of Strategic Technology Solutions (STS) partners closely with the Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) to effectively manage and oversee the State of Tennessee’s data. Within STS, the director of the  Center for Enterprise Data Analytics leads statewide data strategy practices, with a goal of modernizing the data platforms and deploying a common data governance framework. Further, the CEDA director, in collaboration with the Office of Evidence and Impact and other executive agencies, fosters the creation of a data-driven culture, related competencies, and data literacy across the enterprise.

STS and the Office of Evidence and Impact partner to implement and oversee Tennessee’s efforts to utilize enterprise-wide data analytics, including the new Tennessee Data Analytics for Transparency and Accountability (TN DATA) platform. The CEDA Director oversees the technical implementation, while the OEI Director steers the strategic direction of the analytics initiative. The Data Governance and Operations Coordinator in OEI develops and oversees the governance of the integrated TN DATA system, in collaboration with the state agencies, while the TN DATA Leadership Committee—executive-level agency leadership including the governor’s office—steer the priorities for OEI to carry out. The Chief Evaluation Officer for OEI coordinates the work of the data team within OEI and the vendor to address those priorities through cross-functional, cross-agency analytics.

To advance Tennessee’s evidence-based budgeting efforts, the Office of Evidence and Impact defined five evidence steps, conducted program inventories, developed evidence reviews, and provided evidence-building technical assistance, such as guidance for prioritizing programs for evaluation funding and implementation. In addition to the evidence framework that guides work around evidence-based budgeting and evidence building, the Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact supports a number of partnerships that have produced a body of evidence in key education policy areas. The Tennessee Education Research Alliance is a formal research partnership between the Tennessee Department of Education and Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education. Led by full-time staff and guided by a steering committee and advisory council, the Department and the University have co-created a research agenda that builds a body of knowledge to better position the state to make data-driven and evidence-based decisions. The Alliance conducts independent studies and directs external research to provide relevant and timely information to state policymakers across a variety of topic areas, including early reading, professional learning, and school improvement.

The Office of Evidence and Impact recently launched an initiative, led by the Chief Evaluation Officer, to develop a current state analysis of evaluation activities and capacity across Tennessee’s executive branch, craft evaluation guidelines, develop a statewide learning agenda, and produce a curriculum and materials to train agencies to develop their own learning agendas in partnership with the Office of Evidence and Impact. These will be available online in early 2024.

Tennessee leverages a longitudinal data system, P20 Connect TN (“P20”), to link education, workforce, human services, children’s services, and economic development data at the individual level to produce insights for programmatic investments. Templatized data sharing documents and policies have been in place since 2017 and have facilitated over 100 external and internal data use projects since P20’s creation. For example, Tennessee has leveraged its external research partnerships and P20 to evaluate statewide education and workforce development policies and programs, including Career and Technical Education, Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect, Reverse Transfer, and Adult Education investments through federal WIOA funding. Additionally, P20 has been integral to some of the state’s most ambitious initiatives for postsecondary attainment and workforce alignment, and partnering state agencies use it regularly to produce reports like the Department of Education’s Report Card  and the workforce Supply and Demand report.

Tennessee’s templatized data sharing documents and long-established governance policies have also enabled a rapid expansion of data integration and sharing with additional state agencies. In 2023, the Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) established memoranda of understanding with the Tennessee Department of Health, Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service, the Division of TennCare, and the Tennessee Department of Correction to integrate individual health and criminal justice data in the new cloud-based TN DATA integrated data system.

Office of Criminal Justice Programs
Tennessee’s Office of Criminal Justice Programs (OCJP) administers a criminal justice grant to increase the presence of evidence-based programming in local jails. Grantees are required to propose evidence-based interventions categorized in the highest rated or second highest rated evidence tiers according to the Pew Results First Clearinghouse Database. In state fiscal year 2023, Tennessee’s Office of Criminal Justice programs received an additional $25,000,000 to expand this program through state fiscal year 2025. There has been a total of 25 grant recipients with the current total obligations of more than $19 million. An additional solicitation will be posted in the first quarter of state fiscal year 2024. Some of the evidence-based programs being implemented are as follows: Seeking Safety, MRT, Motivational Interviewing, CBT based anger management, Living in Balance; Thinking for a Change and others.

Volunteer Tennessee
The governmental organization Volunteer Tennessee uses a tiered evidence framework from the AmeriCorps Evidence Exchange to define and prioritize evidence of effectiveness when allocating funds through its state AmeriCorps program. In the process of scoring applications for funding, up to 20 points (out of 100) were awarded based on evidence of effectiveness of the proposed services, as defined by the AmeriCorps Evidence Exchange. The State requires applicants who have previously received 3+ years of funding for the same project to submit impact evaluation plans according to the approved AmeriCorps requirements.

TN Department of Education
In 2022, the Tennessee Department of Education defined and prioritized evidence of effectiveness in two grant programs, All Corps and Summer Programming. The All Corps program funds the implementation and strengthening of high-dosage, low-ratio tutoring programs for students, an evidence-based approach. The Summer Programming grant exclusively funds summer learning programs (rated highly effective in Results First Clearinghouse) intended to prevent summer learning loss.

In 2021, the Tennessee Department of Education defined and prioritized evidence of effectiveness in the Reading 360 Networks. This grant program funds reading resources and supports intended to help students read on grade level. Grantees must use high quality materials and provide evidence-based targeted professional development for teachers.

Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) defined five evidence steps. The Office also completed inventories of state- and federally-funded program areas including corrections, mental health, substance abuse services, early literacy, labor and workforce, economic development, and higher education as a part of the state’s evidence-based budgeting initiative.  Several evidence-based programs are directly administered by state staff and agencies submit updated program outcome data to OEI annually. Of those programs currently inventoried, 30 have evidence or strong evidence and over $1.6 billion state and federal has been invested in these programs annually. As Tennessee continues to inventory programs across every department, those numbers will grow to show the full picture of evidence-based spending on direct services.

Beginning in FY20-21, the Tennessee budget instructions aligned the governor’s priorities with agency strategic plans. The instructions also encourage agencies to invest in programs that are supported by research and evidence. The cost increase and base reduction support forms invite agencies to, within their budget requests, highlight their programs’ level of evidence based on the five evidence steps defined by the state’s Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI), as well as the most recent performance data.

OEI reviews each submission and provides the Budget Office and Governor’s Office with a summary report for use in the budget process. The summary report objectively presents the evidentiary information and any available data for each programmatic budget request to inform the governor’s decisions regarding those requests. Departments may choose to leverage this information in presentations to the legislature.

Tennessee’s Governmental Accountability Act of 2013 established a statewide performance management system, Transparent Tennessee, managed by the Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG). The Office of Customer Focused Government and the state’s Chief Operating Officer continuously track and monitor performance data and report publicly available operational performance on Transparent Tennessee’s dashboards, which include specific goals, targets, and performance data for each of the state’s strategic priorities. Delving deeper into the performance management tool, citizens can see both Key Operational Goals and Strategic Initiatives for each of the 23 cabinet level departments. CFG provides a structured approach for departments to stretch their Key Operational Goals and Strategic Initiatives in a way that provides targeted improvement to service and program delivery statewide, which ultimately promotes equitable access to high-quality, responsive governance. The site also includes state fiscal data as well as OpenMaps, which showcases key metrics and an interactive budget tool.

The Tennessee Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG), in addition to overseeing the state’s performance management processes, leads innovation statewide. The mission of the office is to “drive innovation and operational efficiency to benefit [residents].” CFG staff consult with agencies to run a variety of projects across the enterprise that foster innovation and continuous improvement, specifically finding opportunities to improve outcomes pertaining to their operations and how they serve their customers.

In 2016, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services introduced a performance-based contracting model that includes performance bands. Agencies are placed into one of three bands: high performance, mid-range (or average) performance, or lower performance. Providers are then paid based on their performance on specific metrics resulting in a performance pay system with standardized outcomes, daily rates for contracts, metric definitions, and measurement methodology. As part of this initiative, the agency distributes monthly performance reports to providers.

The Tennessee Governor has five priorities: education and workforce development, jobs and rural economic development, transparent and efficient government, Healthier Tennessee, and public safety and criminal justice reform. Specific metrics tied to the success of each priority are publicly displayed on Transparent TN. The Governor’s five priorities set the foundation for each cabinet-level department to create annual strategic plans, which drive department operations each year from October through the following September. In addition, through Tennessee’s Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG), statewide and agency goals are aligned in a deliberative operational planning process. CFG plans serve as the operational plans tracking key customer service areas and operations for each department. Each department’s operational goals and subsequent performance measures must focus on key service offerings (customer-facing services); budget, finance, and accounting; human capital and talent management; technology systems and equipment; and legal, audit, and risk management.