“Systematic assessments using standard research methods to help local governments gain insights into the design, implementation, or effects of a policy, program, or practice, and make continual improvements.”
Washington, D.C.
2023 Gold Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification
In the nation’s capital, city leaders have something few other cities can boast: an office dedicated to conducting rigorous studies of policies and programs. Founded in 2017, The Lab @ DC now has more than a dozen staff, including researchers and data scientists, whose job is to determine whether city policies and programs work. That represents an extraordinary commitment to evaluation, from the mayor’s office right down through the agencies.
The Lab regularly leads randomized control trials, the most rigorous of scientific tools available to determine whether new policies, programs, messaging, or other changes are working. For example, when D.C. began diverting non-emergency 911 medical calls to nurses, The Lab studied the change and found that it reduced unnecessary ambulance trips and got callers connected with the right care for their needs. When randomized control trials aren’t possible, The Lab staff analyze administrative data to research whether programs are working. Lab researchers work closely with leaders at agencies to design these studies and interpret the results, which decision makers use to decide on strategies and funding levels.
When starting new programs, D.C. leaders regularly look elsewhere for proven models to emulate. As part of its pandemic recovery strategy, for example, city schools invested in a high-impact tutoring model that’s been shown to be dramatically more effective than standard tutoring. Likewise, when city leaders set out to bolster mental health services for residents in crisis, they joined a cohort of cities working with the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab to learn from each other as they implemented their programs.
Washington, D.C. City Government Resources:
- The Lab @ DC
- The Lab @ DC: Methods
- The Lab @ DC: Staff
- About Randomized Control Trials
- About Administrative Data Analysis
- Bloomberg Cities: How Washington, D.C., brings science into city government