07. Investing in What Works through Grants and Contracts

The agency defines and prioritizes evidence of effectiveness in grant programs or contracts in order to achieve equitable outcomes.

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 define and prioritize evidence of effectiveness.

Learn More

Results for America has long called for Congress to institute a strong definition of evidence for federal agency grant programs and contracts and shift dollars to programs with evidence of effectiveness, for example, in our 2022 What Works Guide to Federal Legislation.

Leading Example

U.S. Department of Education (ED)

In the months leading up to the passage of the Evidence Act, ED created a new internal office in early 2019 dedicated to “grants policy.” The office has since become a standout example in the federal government of how to use institutionalized leadership roles to advance evidence-based policy. The Grants Policy Office at ED collaborates with colleagues across the agency to ensure alignment with the Secretary’s policy priorities and to support a learning culture. A primary tool for accomplishing these goals is to work collaboratively to design and learn from the department’s competitive grant programs that issue $2 billion in annual funding from ED to organizations throughout the U.S. educational ecosystem.

ED’s ability to excel in this area is bolstered by its foundation policies, including Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), which governs ED’s grants and features four tiers of evidence definitions. The evidence definitions in EDGAR also align with those in the Every Student Succeeds Act and the department’s What Works Clearinghouse. Read more on p. 18 of The Power of Evidence to Drive America’s Progress.

These foundational policies are designed to ensure accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of federal education funds. EDGAR defines “evidence-based” as a proposed project supported by one or more of the following types of evidence: strong evidence, moderate evidence, promising evidence and evidence that demonstrates a rationale and provides standard selection criteria to prioritize evidence-based programs in Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs). In September 2024, updates to EDGAR took effect. The new EDGAR guidelines add new features to fund more projects based on evidence of what works, including prioritizing outcomes and requiring evaluations. By strengthening ED’s commitment to prioritizing evidence and data, incorporating greater community engagement in the grantmaking process, and emphasizing the importance of local context and continuous improvement, federal grant dollars can more effectively improve student outcomes.

ED has 33 grant programs that both define and prioritize the use of evidence of effectiveness, totaling $2.2 billion and representing 42.3% of their grant programs. This analysis includes all competitive grant programs and the five largest (in dollar amount) noncompetitive grant programs. These grants direct funds to evidence-based interventions in areas such as postsecondary access and graduation, K-12 reading skills, school-based mental health and career readiness.

Many of the remaining grants encourage or intend to build evidence. Practices that have not yet been documented to be effective can become evidence-based after an impact evaluation is conducted. Adding a definition of evidence and a mechanism to prioritize evidence in the grant can direct funds to those programs. Programs can benefit from a combination of well-established EBPs and innovative programming intentionally designed to meet emerging community needs.