Evidence and Evaluation
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 ("Evidence Act”) emphasizes collaboration and coordination to advance data and evidence-building functions in the Federal Government. Title I of the Evidence Act mandates a number of activities related to evidence building and evaluation; other titles focus on open government data and confidential information protection and statistical efficiency.
The Department’s Evaluation Officer provides leadership over evidence-building activities under Title I of the Evidence Act, in coordination with the Statistical Official and the Chief Data Officer. For more information on these three officials, see the Open Data page.
In accordance with Title I of the Evidence Act, the Department of Justice:
- develops an evidence-building plan, more commonly known as a Learning Agenda, every four years;
- develops an Annual Evaluation Plan every year;
- conducts a Capacity Assessment to further evidence-building activities every four years; and
- follows an established DOJ Evaluation Policy
Annual Evaluation Plan
The Annual Evaluation Plan describes the significant evaluations planned by the Department for each fiscal year. The Department has applied the following criteria to identify significant evaluations:
- alignment to the President and Administration's policy priorities, including supporting the President's Management Agenda;
- reflects priorities and goals of the Attorney General;
- emphasis on outcome-oriented goals and objectives, and;
- data-driven.
The Annual Evaluation Plan is timed to coincide with the annual budget process and serves as a tool for planning and allocating resources to evaluation.
Learning Agenda
The Learning Agenda is a plan for addressing important evidence gaps related to the Department’s strategic goals and objectives. It is built around a set of priority questions that can be answered through rigorous evidence building, including research, evaluation, statistics, and analysis. The evidence built around each one of these questions will advance the Department’s ability to effectively achieve its strategic goals and objectives, both in the short term and in the long term.
The Learning Agenda is published every four years as part of the Department’s Strategic Plan, and is revisited and updated annually.
Capacity Assessment
The Capacity Assessment describes the Department’s capacity for building and using evidence to support decisions about programs and policies – and, in particular, its capacity for evaluation, statistics, research, and analysis. It is intended to describe current capacity and identify areas for growth.
Like the Learning Agenda, the Capacity Assessment is published every four years as part of the Department’s Strategic Plan. The current Capacity Assessment is available here:
Evaluation Policy
This Department of Justice’s Evaluation Policy provides a framework to guide the Department’s components in conducting high-quality, credible, reliable evaluations while also allowing appropriate flexibility for components to identify and implement specific evaluation practices consistent with their capacities and needs. The policy commits the Department to adhering to the principles of rigor, relevance and utility, independence and objectivity, transparency, and ethics in planning, conducting, and reporting on evaluations.
