Program evaluation is important for assessing the implementation and outcomes of local, state, and federal programs. The Program Evaluation Toolkit provides tools and resources to support individuals responsible for evaluating and monitoring local, state, or federal programs. The toolkit comprises eight modules that cover critical steps in program…

This article examines factors that could have influenced whether evaluations of U.S. government--funded foreign assistance programs completed in 2015 had considered unintended consequences. Logit regression models indicate that the odds of considering unintended consequences were increased when all or most of seven standard data collection methods…

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the country's largest food assistance program, providing more than $6.2 billion in supplemental benefits to over 42 million people with low incomes to purchase groceries each month. The SNAP Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Services grant program (SNAP-Ed) equips people eligible for…

Reporting requirements for capturing data on the delivery of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) have evolved. University of Minnesota (U of M) Extension developed the SNAP Education Evaluation and Database System (SEEDS) to capture unduplicated participant information for SNAP-Ed programming conducted by U of M Extension…

This issue brief describes the programs and systems of the MDRC Center for Data Insights. Ranging from simple descriptive summaries to advanced machine learning algorithms, the Center's eight current projects aim to use institutions' increasingly rich data to provide new insights that can help refine and target their client's services: (1)…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for managing the care and custody of approximately 175,000 federal inmates--an estimated 20 percent of whom have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review BOP's efforts to provide drug treatment to federal inmates. This report (1)…

An integrated data system (IDS) that links information from separate administrative data systems offers policymakers, program administrators and researchers a powerful tool to analyze interactive effects across systems and make more informed decisions to improve outcomes for vulnerable families. This case study discusses how two states (Washington…

Increasing adoption and adaptation of promising instructional strategies and materials has been identified as a critical component needed to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper examines typical propagation practices and resulting outcomes of proposals written by developers of educational…

While regression discontinuity has usually been applied retrospectively to secondary data, it is even more attractive when applied prospectively. In a prospective design, data collection can be focused on cases near the discontinuity, thereby improving internal validity and substantially increasing precision. Furthermore, such prospective…

Performance measurement has emerged as a management tool that, accompanied by advances in technology and data analysis, has allowed public officials to control public policy at multiple levels of government. In the United States, the federal government has used performance measurement as part of an accountability strategy that enables Congress and…

Race to the Top (RTT) is a first-of-its kind $4.35 billion competitive grant program designed to spur state-level education innovation to boost student achievement, close achievement gaps, and prepare students for college and careers. Originally authorized in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, RTT encourages states to develop…

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

Title VII provides funding for the education of American Indian/Alaska Native students based on a formula grant available to school districts, charter schools, and local education agencies (LEAs). This report explores why some eligible schools and districts do not apply for federal Title VII, potentially resulting in American Indian/Alaska Native…