The 2024 Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence

In December 2024, Results for America certified 11 leading federal agencies — including two new additions since last year — for their efforts to build and use evidence and data to drive billions of taxpayer dollars toward solutions that deliver better results.

By prioritizing meaningful outcomes and impact in their spending decisions, these agencies are delivering results on a wide range of issues, from improved reading test scores and expanded early childhood education opportunities to increased investments in evidence-based substance abuse treatments and improved earnings.

The 11 certified federal agencies are:

The 2024 Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence and our related Shifting Dollars Technical Assistance℠ help federal leaders identify what works and shift dollars to the most effective solutions. The 11 federal agencies featured this year are harnessing the power of evidence and data to improve outcomes in communities nationwide. Some highlights include:

Platinum Certified: U.S. Department of Education (ED)

Strengthened Evidence-Based Grantmaking

• In 2024, ED updated its Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) to help ensure that federal education dollars are invested in solutions that work. (Criterion 7)

Improved Outcomes

• ED’s results-driven Promise Neighborhood grant program helped Indianola, Mississippi, achieve a 23 percentage point increase in the state reading assessment pass rate for 400 struggling third graders. 

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• The Higher Education Act’s 0.5% set-aside was authorized in 2022, and each year since then, ED has used the authority to help build evidence about what works to increase postsecondary access and success. (Criterion 3)

Platinum Certified: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

Strengthened Evidence-Based Grantmaking

• MCC uses a robust framework for incorporating evidence into its decision-making. The process leverages evidence at every stage of an investment in a country to guide decisions through five key touchpoints that help the agency determine where grant funds should be allocated and what they should achieve. (Criterion 7)

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• The MCC Evaluation Management Committee (EMC) is comprised of key senior staff members, including the agency’s evaluation officer, chief data officer, and monitoring and evaluation representatives. The EMC integrates evidence into decision-making by overseeing the alignment, quality control, and effectiveness of evaluations through a structured process and regular meetings. The MCC Evidence Platform shares MCC’s data, documents, and analysis to promote accountability between the agency and its country partners and to help others learn from its results. (Criterion 1)
• In 2024, MCC invested 1.7% of its program budget in evaluations, evaluation technical assistance, and evaluation capacity-building. It has also required the evaluation of every investment since its founding in 2004. Since December 2023, MCC has greatly reduced the time it takes to publish its Constraints Analysis reports from years to just a few months. (Criterion 3)

Gold Certified: Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Improved Outcomes

• ACFs’ Kinship Navigator Program has significantly increased family-centered permanent placement rates for children placed with relatives rather than in foster care. In Colorado, children placed in their state’s Kinship Navigator-funded program were 57% more likely to be reunified with a parent compared to those receiving standard county services and half as likely to require higher levels of care. 

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• ACF published an evaluation policy and research and evaluation agenda aligned with HHS policy and practice. As a subagency within HHS, ACF also contributed research questions and learning activities to HHS’ agency-wide FY 2023-26 evidence-building plan. ACF’s portfolio approach to learning agendas is an excellent practice, especially for large, federated agencies and policy areas with diverse programs. (Criterion 4)
• In 2024, ACF unveiled an inaugural Data Strategy with a dozen significant initiatives that leverage data to deliver on its mission. One initiative, the Data Talent Center, aims to strategically build a skilled workforce, enabling the agency to fully leverage its data assets and move beyond relying on individual data scientists. (Criterion 5)

Gold Certified: AmeriCorps

Strengthened Evidence-Based Grantmaking

• In 2024, AmeriCorps’ largest grant program — AmeriCorps State and National — directed 71% of grant dollars to programs with strong or moderate evidence, such as after-school programs, disaster relief, health services and building affordable housing. (Criterion 7)

Improved Outcomes

• AmeriCorps’ evidence-driven grantmaking led to more than 200,000 students being served by Reading Corps, which has been shown to increase reading fluency by up to nearly one full academic school year.

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• To further its evaluation agenda, AmeriCorps invested 1.2% of its FY 2024 operating budget in evaluation, evaluation technical assistance, and evaluation capacity-building, exceeding the criterion requirements. (Criterion 3)
• AmeriCorps makes clear that evaluation is required in multiple Notices of Funding Opportunity, including the FY 2024 AmeriCorps State and National Competitive Grants. It provides grantees with an evaluation plan template and expectations on the type of evidence to be collected and provides technical assistance on evaluation capacity, such as around data collection. (Criterion 6)
• In 2024, AmeriCorps introduced weekly meetings for strategic planning, budgeting and evaluation staff to better integrate learning into decision-making. (Criterion 4)

Gold Certified: U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

Improved Outcomes

• Since FY 2023, DOL’s Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program has required states to invest at least 25% of grant funds in strategies proven to improve employment and earnings outcomes; an impact evaluation of Wisconsin’s RESEA program found that it led to $237-per-participant savings by shortening unemployment spells and decreasing the rate of individuals reaching their benefits cap. 

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• DOL’s chief evaluation officer leads the agency’s evaluation efforts by overseeing evaluations, interpreting findings, guiding policy and program decisions, shaping budget requests, promoting evidence in grant competitions, and providing technical assistance to integrate evidence into policy design. (Criterion 1)
• In 2023, DOL launched its Evidence to Action campaign, featuring a comprehensive Evidence-to-Action (E2A) Toolkit that offers practical guidance on designing research findings from the start to ensure they are ready for real-world application. (Criterion 4)

Gold Certified and New to the Federal Standard: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• DOT launched a new Office of Performance, Evaluation, and Enterprise Risk (PEER) in May 2023 to steward its expanded responsibilities under IIJA, increasingly integrating evidence into how it does business. Through PEER, DOT created an Evaluation Community of Practice, partnered with the General Services Administration to host several workshops on evaluation for staff, and launched a new online platform that modernized previously manual processes and is now routinely used to store and share DOT’s performance data. (Criterion 4)
• DOT’s FY 2022-26 Strategic Plan is organized into six strategic goals, with 17 strategic objectives aligned to the goals. DOT’s FY 2024 Performance Plan and Report describe these strategic goals, the associated metrics, and the actions to be taken to achieve the identified outcomes. (Criterion 12)

Gold-Certified: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at HHS

Strengthened Evidence-Based Grantmaking

• SAMHSA is one of the top three agencies this year using evidence in grantmaking. For example, the Mental Health Block Grant program has required that 10% of funds be set aside for evidence-based programs for individuals with Early Serious Mental Illness since 2016. (Criterion 7)

Improved Outcomes

• SAMHSA has used evidence-based approaches, such as providing over 4,388,614 Naloxone kits in FY 2024 to reduce fatal opioid overdoses. Based on National Center for Health Statistics data, it is estimated that there was an approximately 18.2% decrease in fatal opioid overdoses over the most recent 12 months of data.

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• SAMHSA allocated 1.7% of the agency’s FY 2024 budget evaluation, evaluation technical assistance and evaluation capacity-building, exceeding the criterion requirement. (Criterion 3)
• The SAMHSA Performance Accountability and Reporting System (SPARS), along with SAMHSA’s performance officer and specialized teams across grant-issuing centers, all contribute to performance management at SAMHSA to enhance decision-making, foster accountability and support improved outcomes for all. (Criterion 9)

Gold Certified: US Agency for International Development (USAID)

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• In 2023, USAID launched its Local Evaluation and Evidence Support program to grow evaluation expertise in the very communities being evaluated in up to six African countries. This year, the initiative has already identified 25 organizations in both Zambia and Ghana, many of which have never conducted evaluations with USAID. Training is currently underway, and the positive response has led USAID to expand the training by offering it online to reach a wider audience. (Criterion 6)
• USAID employs a “Pay-for-Results (PFR)” approach to development, in which the agency makes payments when implementing organizations achieve specific milestones or development results. USAID has developed a guide and Pay for Result primer offering guidance on setting, pricing and administering performance metrics in PFR programming. (Criterion 10)

Silver Certified: Administration for Community Living (ACL) at HHS

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• ACL’s 2023 evaluation plan describes the systematic collection and analysis of information about the characteristics and outcomes of programs, projects and processes as a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness and/or to inform decision-makers about current and future activities. ACL has also published a learning agenda and evaluation policy. (Criterion 4)
• ACL’s Aging, Independence, and Disability Portal (AGID) provides easy access to the latest federal and state data on aging and disability, including data mandated by the Older Americans Act to assess government program effectiveness and accountability. The portal also includes data from cross-agency and cross-organization partnerships, making it a valuable tool for promoting transparency while protecting privacy. (Criterion 5)

Silver Certified and New to the Federal Standard: U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• DOC has a Chief Data Officer who chairs the Data Governance Board, which includes the Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Senior GIS Official, Evaluation Officer, Statistical Official, and representatives from the bureaus. The Board meets monthly to ensure that the department’s data is effectively leveraged as a strategic asset, with a strong focus on internal data governance and coordination with other agencies and non-federal stakeholders, highlighting DOC’s recognition of its data’s broader impact. (Criterion 2)
• The U.S. Census Bureau’s Center of Excellence at DOC established five new data-sharing partnerships in 2024 to more effectively evaluate the impact of programs on individuals. Additionally, DOC published its Equitable Data Playbook, offering practical strategies for using data to achieve better outcomes and institutionalize new data practices, including improving data access. (Criterion 5)

Silver Certified: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Strengthened Evidence and Data Policy and Practice

• HUD proactively engages residents and community partners to inform policy development and program design. Through practices like public comment periods, hearings, and direct dialogue with these groups, HUD ensures community voices shape policy. HUD’s learning agenda and program evaluation policy both emphasize stakeholder input. (Criterion 11)