About the Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence

Overview

Results for America’s annual Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence:

  • Serves as a “North Star” for how federal agencies can and should build and use evidence and data in their decision-making, particularly in grantmaking;
  • Celebrates the progress leading federal agencies have made in their efforts to build and use evidence and data in their decision-making, particularly in grantmaking; and
  • Motivates all federal agencies to learn from each others’ evidence and data efforts.

History

Results for America released the first Federal Invest in What Works Standard of Excellence in 2013, highlighting the evidence and data efforts of the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor. Our 2024 Federal Standard of Excellence features the evidence and data efforts of the following 11 leading federal agencies:

Domestic Agencies

  • AmeriCorps
  • U.S. Department of Commerce
  • U.S. Department of Education
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (3 agencies)
    • Administration for Children and Families
    • Administration for Community Living
    • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • U.S. Department of Labor
  • U.S. Department of Transportation

International Development Agencies

  • Millennium Challenge Corporation
  • U.S. Agency for International Development

2024 Criteria

Results for America developed the 12 criteria and 37 subcriteria in our 2024 Federal Invest in What Works Standard of Excellence in consultation with more than 100 current and former federal government officials and key stakeholders nationwide, including our Federal Standard Advisory Committee members. Our 2024 Federal Standard includes publicly available information on the relevant federal agency websites. We gave each federal agency multiple opportunities to review and edit the information ultimately included in our 2024 Federal Standard. We then used this information to certify our 11 leading federal agencies at three levels: Platinum, Gold and Silver.

Here are the 12 criteria and 36 subcriteria included in our 2024 Federal Standard:

BUILDING EVIDENCE AND LEARNING IN ORDER TO GET RESULTS

1. Evaluation Leadership

Subcriteria:

1.1 The agency has public documentation of a chief evaluation officer or, if a non-CFO Act agency, of another position with similar authority to a chief evaluation officer.

1.2 The agency has an evaluation governance structure.

2. Data Leadership

Subcriteria:

2.1 The agency has public documentation of a chief data officer (CDO) or, if a non-CFO Act agency, of another position with similar authority to a CDO.

2.2 The agency has a data governance structure.

3. Investment in Capacity to Learn What Works

Subcriteria:

3.1 The agency invests at least 1% of program funds for evaluation and uses evaluation findings to advance its mission.

4. Evaluation Policy, Plan and Learning Agenda

Subcriteria:

4.1 The agency has public documentation of an evaluation policy.

4.2 The agency has public documentation of an evaluation plan.

4.3 The agency has public documentation of a learning agenda (or a research agenda, research priorities, etc.).

5. Data Policies and Practices

Subcriteria:

5.1 The agency has an open data policy.

5.2 The agency has a strategic data plan.

5.3 The agency’s open data policy, strategic data plan, or a separate document outlines how data are to be ethically collected and used to improve opportunity for all.

5.4 The agency makes all datasets public (except sensitive information) and/or has an agency-wide public data catalog.

5.5 The agency has a standardized process and/or templates for sharing data. This includes sharing internally, with other agencies, and with non-governmental entities.

USING LEARNING TO CHANGE PRACTICE, POLICY AND FUNDING

6. Strengthen State and Local Capacity

Subcriteria:

6.1 The agency has a policy, guidance document, or at least one Notice of Funding Opportunity explicitly stating that improving the integration of data systems and overall data infrastructure to measure outcomes is a permissible use of grant funds. This includes costs related to data management and analysis, including direct or indirect costs associated with building integrated data systems that link individual-level data from multiple state and local government agencies for management, research, and evaluation as described in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Uniform Grants Guidance.

6.2 Program evaluation and/or evaluation capacity building are explicitly permissible uses of grant funds in at least one program or grant.

6.3 Technical assistance on improving data capacity and integrating data systems to measure outcomes is provided to grantees in at least one program or grant.

6.4 Technical assistance on improving evaluation capacity is provided to grantees in at least one program or grant.

7. Investing in What Works through Grants and Contracts

Subcriteria:

7.1 The agency has an agency-wide grants policy that defines evidence and provides guidance and general grant selection criteria on prioritizing evidence of effectiveness.

7.2 The agency’s competitive grants and top five non-competitive Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) define and prioritize evidence of effectiveness.

8. Investing in What Works through Budgeting (unscored)

Subcriteria:

8.1 The agency defines evidence of effectiveness for purposes of budget development (i.e., the agency’s budget office has a clear definition of evidence of effectiveness for budget documents).

8.2 The agency’s budget guidance states that requests to increase or decrease funding for a program should be supported by evidence.

8.3 The agency includes evidence indicators in public budget documents (i.e., budget requests to increase or decrease funding for a program, such as those in the congressional justification, are supported by evidence).

8.4 The agency sets evidence-based targets (i.e., it has set targets on what percentage of the budget or new proposals should go towards evidence-based programs).

8.5 The agency summarizes items signed into law that support evidence-based interventions (i.e., proposal-level indicators of evidence are reported for items signed into law, such as items enacted).

8.6 The agency has a policy (e.g., law, administrative rule or policies, executive order, budget templates) that requires budget documents to, wherever practicable, include consideration for how proposals address the needs of people who are experiencing unfavorable outcomes.

9. Performance Management

Subcriteria:

9.1 The agency has public documentation of a senior leader or team that oversees a performance management system.

9.2 The agency can show how performance outcomes are used to inform decisions (i.e., what internal processes are in place for routine opportunities to review evidence and/or data).

9.3 The agency can demonstrate how performance data has been used to improve opportunity for all.

10. Results-Driven Contracting

Subcriteria:

10.1 The agency encourages grantees, provides guidance to grantees, or provides technical assistance to grantees on the use of results-focused contracts that include outcomes aligned with grantee goals (in at least one program).

10.2 In the activities described in 10.1, the agency prioritizes proposals that address the needs of people who are experiencing unfavorable outcomes as evidenced by at least one example of a grant or NOFO with this guidance.

DELIVERING RESULTS FOR ALL

11. Community Engagement

Subcriteria:

11.1 The agency has policies, activities, staff, boards, or groups dedicated to community engagement, emphasizing communities experiencing unfavorable outcomes.

11.2 The agency’s open data plan or strategic data plan was developed through engaging groups served by the agency, implementation partners, and other stakeholders, emphasizing communities experiencing unfavorable outcomes.

11.3 The agency’s Annual Evaluation Plan and/or the Learning Agenda was developed through engaging groups served by the agency, implementation partners, and other stakeholders, emphasizing communities experiencing unfavorable outcomes.

11.4 Program evaluations engage groups served by the program, implementing partners, and other stakeholders in evaluation design and the interpretation of findings, emphasizing communities experiencing unfavorable outcomes.

12. Identifying Key Outcomes and Tracking Progress

Subcriteria:

12.1 The agency has public documentation of a strategic plan with measurable outcome goals.

12.2 The agency has public documentation of goals (strategic plan goals) that were informed by underserved communities.

12.3 The agency has public documentation of tracking progress on key outcomes.

The 2024 Federal Standard of Excellence includes a new, unscored criterion – 08. Investing in What Works through Budgeting. Through our work with government at the federal, state, and local levels and consultation with dozens of experts across the U.S., Results for America has identified integrating evidence into budgeting as a place to advance federal practice. While providing a transition period before scoring, Results for America includes this criterion to encourage agencies to consider how they can move towards budgeting according to evidence of effectiveness, among other factors.

Federal agencies may find it helpful to look to state leaders. Results for America’s 2024 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence features 12 states that have put outcomes for the people they serve front and center by incorporating evidence of effectiveness in the state budget process by:

  • Defining evidence of effectiveness for purposes of budget development (CO, IL, MD, MN, NC, NM, OR, RI, and TN)
  • Including a default field for evidence collection on internal budget documents (CO, CT, MD, MN, NC, NM, OH, RI, TN, and UT)
  • Setting evidence-based targets (OR and TN)
  • Including evidence indicators in public budget documents (CO and MN)
  • Summarizing items signed into law that support evidence-based interventions (MN and NM)

In November 2024, Results for America released a guide on integrating evidence into budgeting. Although it is written for state governments, much can easily be adapted to the federal level. Federal agencies may find it helpful to look to state leaders highlighted in the 2024 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence.

2024 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence

The Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence is the state-level counterpart to the Federal Standard, providing a tailored roadmap for evidence-based policymaking in state governments. While each Standard includes 12 criteria, 11 are shared between the State and Federal Standards, guiding agencies in both levels of government to use data and evidence for effective governance, with flexibility for the unique contexts of state and federal application. The 2024 edition highlights progress across 48 states, awarding certification to seven states and honorable recognition to six others for exemplary commitment to data-driven, results-focused policies.

  • Platinum Certified: Minnesota and Tennessee
  • Gold Certified: Colorado
  • Silver Certified: Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan and North Carolina
  • Honorable Mentions: New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah

2024 What Works Cities Certification

The What Works Cities Certification program, launched in 2015 by Bloomberg Philanthropies and led by Results for America, is the first-of-its-kind standard of excellence for data-driven, well-managed local government. As of 2024, 83 cities across North, Central and South have achieved What Works Cities Certification for their use of data and evidence to inform policy, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate programs and engage residents. As of November 2024, the following cities have achieved 2024 What Works Cities Certification:

Acknowledgments

Results for America gratefully acknowledges the contributions of many people who helped make this Federal Standard of Excellence the celebration of federal agencies’ work that it is. In particular, we recognize the helpful guidance of Mary Ellen Wiggins, Partner, Voyager, LLC, a leader in the evidence movement. We also offer our deep appreciation to the public servants at each of the 11 federal agencies included in the Federal Standard whose often unsung work we seek here to sing. Their work to learn what works and shift taxpayer dollars to those effective practices make America a better place.

Previous Invest in What Works Federal Standards of Excellence

Interested?

If your federal agency is interested in becoming certified by the Federal Standard of Excellence, please contact Natasha Latzman at natasha@results4america.org.