ACL's evidence-based efforts are recognized in a new report from Results for America: the 2020 Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence, an annual review of how federal agencies are using evidence and data to get better results for families and communities.
The 2020 Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence (Federal Standard of Excellence) highlights how nine federal agencies that oversee more than $220 billion in federal investments annually are building the infrastructure necessary to use evidence and data in their budget, policy, and management decisions. In addition, the Federal Standard of Excellence captures the significant progress these nine federal agencies have made in implementing the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act), which took effect in 2019.
Susan Jenkins, Director of the Office of Performance and Evaluation in the Center for Policy and Evaluation at ACL noted: "As we compile the information for the standard, I am amazed at how much we have accomplished in the previous year. This year we are particularly proud of having published an agency learning agenda, evaluation plan, data governance primer, and series of toolkits supporting the use of evidence."
More details on ACL's evidence-based efforts can be found here or in the 2020 Federal Standard of Excellent Snapshots. In future years ACL will focus on improving its use of evidence as part of the process for making competitive and noncompetitive grant awards.
Read more in the Results for America press release.