3. Investment in Capacity to Learn What Works

The Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services (ACES) was created in 2019 for the sole purpose of conduction program and performance evaluations rooted in evidence-based policymaking. The agency has a FY27 budget of $944,100 and as much as 85% of that funding is devoted to evaluation and data collection. ACES collects and reports on various metrics across multiple policy areas and displays them on their “How Alabama Compares” web page.

The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) is committed to data transparency and learning from our ongoing initiatives. CSDE used federal coronavirus relief funds to establish the Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration (CCERC) and is now institutionalized. This collaborative partners with institutions of higher education in CT to evaluate the effectiveness of public investments in education. Another significant investment is the CSDE’s data portal EdSight which provides public access to a wide array of datasets and dashboards on topics ranging from student enrollment, engagement and outcomes to educator capacity and diversity, and school and district performance.

The Office of Workforce Strategy (OWS) has engaged a third party evaluator to conduct an evaluation of the CareerConneCT program, which funds job training through several grantees across Connecticut. The Department of Correction (DOC) has also retained an evaluator for a pre-release workforce development program. Both OWS and DOC engaged these evaluators to assess the impact of their American Rescue Plan Act funded programs. The Office of Policy and Management has established the Data and Policy Analytics division, which consolidates resources for collection, management and analysis of data for executive branch agencies.

Minnesota[LS1]  prioritizes evaluation and evidence-building activities across the enterprise. The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB), [SN2] [LS3] and many other state agencies allocate over 1% of their discretionary funding for evaluation and evidence building activities. Examples of investment in evaluation and evidence-building include: DEED’s Minnesota Job Skills Partnership evaluation funds and investments in data transformation; MDE’s robust Data Practices and Analytics division with researchers, evaluators, and data system specialists that support the evidence building activities across the agency and with national partners for policy-driven programs; and MMB’s Results Management team that helps teams and leaders across the state enterprise build and use data and evidence to make strategic and informed decisions.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has invested an average of $239,000 per year on its required annual evaluation of WIOA Title I services since 2019, representing 1% of its total allocation for those services. NJDOL has allocated up to three percent of the $18.2 million allotted by USDOL for service delivery to conduct its first random control trial (RCT) of services delivered under the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program.

While these state agencies do not allocate at least 1% of their budget, beginning in FY25 the legislature has begun funding programs that have yet to be tested in New Mexico, including an evaluative component. This funding totaled over $500 million from FY25-FY27. This funding is done through either the Governing for Results and Opportunity Fund or through the Public Education Reform Fund (PERF). Spending from the PERF is required to have an evaluation attached, and funding for these projects had dedicated evaluation funding totaling $ 800,000 of the $14.4 million appropriation in FY26.​

The North Carolina FY 2021-23 budget appropriated $1 million in nonrecurring grant funds to OSBM for state agency research and evaluation needs (6% of OSBM’s budget). OSBM launched the North Carolina Evaluation Fund to support government-researcher partnerships that inform program and policy decisions. OSBM awarded grants to eight high-impact research projects in 2022 on topics including teacher and student outcomes, workforce development, juvenile recidivism, behavioral health and social service programs, and domestic violence. Project pre-analysis plans and final materials to date are available on the State of North Carolina Registry.

Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) – School Report Cards. Provides parents, caregivers, community members, educators, and policymakers information about district and school performance — to celebrate successes and identify areas for improvement.

DEW – Policy Analysis Appropriation Line Item. Funding in each fiscal year for maintaining administrative and statistical information systems for policy analysis, including reports on education trends, resource use, and program effectiveness. It also funds a longitudinal database to assess policy impacts and provides research and data analysis to state policymakers. DEW works with Ohio State University’s Ohio Education Research Center. (See current projects and reports links). Support for this program fits within the 1% of discretionary funding after accounting for the school funding program.

The Department of Health manages the State Health Assessment (SHA), which is a comprehensive and actionable picture of health and wellbeing in Ohio. The interactive website displays state and county-level data on topics such as demographic trends, leading causes of death, population health, healthcare spending, access to health care, public health and prevention, social and economic environment, and physical environment. Funding for these tools exceed 1% of discretionary funding for the department.

The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), the Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner (OPC), the Department of Labor and Training (DLT), the Department of Revenue (DOR), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – each allocate more than 1 percent of their discretionary funding for data evaluation activities.

Examples of such efforts include RIDE’s Data Center, OPC’s Longitudinal Data System (RILDS), DLT’s Data Center, and OMB’s Performance Management Unit.

This work includes the collection, compilation, processing, analysis, and dissemination of data to create general purpose, policy-specific, and program-specific statistics and datasets. This investment ensures that each agency can effectively measure and improve the impact of their programs and policies.

By prioritizing these evidence-building activities, Rhode Island aims to enhance transparency, accountability, and the overall effectiveness of its government operations.

As part of the FY23 budget, Tennessee allocated $1.5 million in recurring state dollars for rigorous program evaluations to support evidence building. Programs ready for evaluation are identified in the program inventory process, in partnership with the Office of Evidence & Impact, and agencies are connected with external research partners who conduct the program evaluation. For FY26 budget requests that were programmatic, 33% of dollars requested were associated with evidence-based programs.

The legislature passed a bill, Outcome-based Investment Grant Pilot Framework (S.B. 324), during the 2026 General Session that pilots a framework for evaluating grant applications and results. The pilot directs the two administering agencies to use up to 5% of appropriated funding for an independent evaluation.

The Utah State Board of Education and the Utah Board of Higher Education each received funding as part of the pilot, though there is potential for it to be scaled to other agencies.