REPORT PROVIDES A BIPARTISAN GUIDE FOR POLICYMAKERS TO IMPROVE STUDENT OUTCOMES THROUGH DATA AND EVIDENCE; RFA ALSO NAMED U.S. SENATORS KELLY AYOTTE (R-NH) AND MARK WARNER (D-VA) TO THE BIPARTISAN MONEYBALL ALL-STAR TEAM
To spotlight the need to invest public resources in evidence-based, results-driven solutions, Results for America (RFA), along with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), today released the third report in RFA’s Invest in What Works Policy Series, titled: Moneyball for Education: Using Data, Evidence, and Evaluation to Improve Federal Education Policy. The report, which was released at an event hosted by AEI in Washington, DC, highlights how a Moneyball approach can help state and local school systems leverage data and evidence to improve student outcomes.
“This report shows that there is a bipartisan way to address our education challenges,” said Michele Jolin, CEO and Co-Founder of Results for America. “By embracing a Moneyball approach and providing a clear, bipartisan path for using data and evidence, Bethany and Rick have shown policymakers how we can improve education outcomes for kids.”
The report, which was authored by Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at AEI, and Bethany Little, an adviser to Results for America, states: “Moneyball is valuable to education both because it could provide essential information for improving education and because it could present a bipartisan pathway forward in an increasingly divided political climate.” The authors also outline seven policy recommendations that government leaders should undertake to help ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent more effectively and efficiently to improve student outcomes and school performance. The seven recommendations include:
- Develop solid, trusted metrics to improve federal programs;
- Devote a portion of funds to evaluating programs and to building the capacity of state and local decision-makers to learn what works;
- Ensure the use of a trusted entity and process in program evaluation;
- Produce meaningful spending data that supports cost-benefit analysis;
- Make education programs more evidence-based;
- Explore innovative approaches to boosting program outcomes and performance; and
- Establish pilot projects that emphasize data-driven, evidence-based continuous improvement.
Read the full Moneyball for Education report here.
The first two reports in Results for America’s Invest in What Works Policy Series, The Power of a Penny: Building Knowledge to Invest in What Works in Education and Renewing Head Start’s Promise: Invest in What Works for Disadvantaged Preschoolers, can be found [here].
Results for America also announced today that U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Mark Warner (D-VA) have been named Federal Moneyball for Government All-Stars. RFA recognized these two Senators for their strong commitment to the following Moneyball for Government principles of:
- Building evidence about the practices, policies and programs that will achieve the most effective and efficient results so that policymakers can make better decisions;
- Investing limited taxpayer dollars in practices, policies and programs that use data, evidence and evaluation to demonstrate they work; and
- Directing funds away from practices, policies, and programs that consistently fail to achieve measurable outcomes.
About Results for America
Results for America is improving outcomes for young people, their families, and communities by shifting public resources toward solutions that use evidence and data to improve quality and get better results.
In November, 2014, Results for America published Moneyball for Government, the national bestselling book that brings together a group of bipartisan leaders to make the case for government at all levels to inform policy and funding decisions by the best possible data, evidence and evaluation about what works.