Putting it all together: The case of the U.S. Department of Labor's evidence‐building strategy

Abstract

This chapter describes how and why the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) structured and implemented a comprehensive evidence‐building strategy in the years ahead of the federal legislation that now requires many of the same key components. In 2010, the Chief Evaluation Office was established in DOL at the departmental level to coordinate evaluation strategy and evidence building and to promote an organization‐wide culture of learning. This represented a new approach intended to elevate the priority on evidence, improve the scope and quality of evaluations and research, and expand the use of evidence. The DOL strategy included formalizing a departmental evaluation policy statement around key principles that govern high‐quality evaluations, developing a learning agenda process to strategically plan for evaluations and evidence‐building activities, and creating an evidence‐based clearinghouse to synthesize and share the results of rigorous evaluations. While each department is unique, DOL's experience highlights functions that were prioritized as well as challenges and limitations that had to be addressed in one department.