Results for America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for governments to make evidence-based policy and budget decisions, released a report Tuesday praising dozens of initiatives by state governments across the country for meeting its “Standard of Excellence.” The organization, which launched the same series in 2013 for the federal government, has been expanded in 2018 to cover state governments for the first time.
The Standard of Excellence review looks for government programs that use data and hard evidence to make bureaucracies more efficient and productive. In total, Results for America identified 88 initiatives spread across 30 states it deemed worthy of inclusion in its 48-page report.
The highlighted projects, which are sorted into 15 categories ranging from data use and cost-benefit analyses to more blue-sky areas like “strategic goals” and “innovation,” represent one group’s identification of the best practices available today in government technology.
Five states in particular — Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington — were called out for having multiple programs that made the list.