Evidence for Results
Evidence to Achieve Quality Results, Reliably, at Scale
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Research and experience over the last two decades have produced more knowledge than ever before about what it takes to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children and families. Despite that, we have not been successful in achieving significantly better outcomes at a magnitude that matches the need in critical areas.
CSSP, and the Friends of Evidence group it has convened, share the conviction that to achieve better results we must expand what constitutes acceptable, rigorous, credible evidence, especially in a time of scarce resources. Programs and practices that are proven through experimental methods are a useful starting point, but now the challenge is to build on progress to date, to marshal the full extent of available knowledge and to continuously learn from the most complex and most ambitious efforts underway. Drawing on all these sources, we will be able to create a full spectrum of evidence as the foundation for further innovation to address our toughest social problems.
Better Evidence for Decision-Makers
As decision-makers work to remedy urgent social, economic, health and education problems, they ought to be informed by all the evidence relevant to achieving their goals. This simple proposition, now widely agreed upon, represents an important step forward in social policy. A focus on evidence helps to fulfill the promise that program choices, treatments, interventions and funding decisions can be based on solid findings about effectiveness, rather than good intentions, rhetoric, fads, ideology or allegiance to "what we've done" philosophy.
The challenge we face today is to build on what has been done so far to make the overall information available to decision-makers deeper, broader, more nuanced, more inclusive of the strategies most likely to produce results at scale, more likely to support continuous learning and improvement and more relevant to everyone working to bridge the gaps between science, practice and policy.
To learn more, read our paper Better Evidence for Decision-Makers.
Better Evidence for Decision-Makers: Emerging Pathways from Existing Knowledge
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There is broad consensus in favor using evidence in order to solve critical social problems. Most notably, there has been widespread effort to determine which individual programs can demonstrate strong evidence of impact. In our view, this is a useful beginning to what ought to be a much larger enterprise aimed at achieving significant results at scale. In this paper we seek to broaden the discussion.
We believe that decision-makers (such as legislators and public system and community leaders) striving to improve the well-being of individuals and communities ought to be informed by evidence throughtout their work, not just when they are choosing which programs to implement.
To learn more, read our paper Better Evidence for Decision-Makers: Emerging Pathways from Existing Knowledge.
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| Background Paper |
The Friends of Evidence came together quite informally in 2011. Early deliberations made clear that there was a shared interest in improving outcomes for the children and families who were not faring well in today’s society. The group also shared concerns about the role of evidence in efforts (public and philanthropic, local, regional and national) to improve outcomes and to ensure the wise allocation of scarce resources.
The group soon found that a growing number of distinguished leaders - across diverse fields, disciplines and sectors - were drawing similar conclusions about the limitations of prevailing approaches to obtaining evidence and were seeking each other out to define and promote more effective approaches.
The Friends of Evidence were, and are, eager to explore these issues together and to seek support and to work with others toward the critical insights and actions that will lead to the generation analysis and application of evidence that will enhance our societal capacity to - as Anthony Bryk, one of the Friends of Evidence, puts it - achieve quality results, reliably, at scale.
Members:
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Susan Bales |
John Kania Managing Director FSG |
| Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP President Emeritus and Senior Fellow Institute for Healthcare Improvement |
Nat Kendall-Taylor Research Director FrameWorks Institute |
Angela Glover Blackwell Founder and President PolicyLink |
Patti Patrizi Patrizi and Associates |
| Anthony Bryk President Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching |
Charles Payne Professor, School of Social Service Administration University of Chicago |
| Deborah Daro Senior Research Fellow Chapin Hall, University of Chicago |
Karen Pittman President and CEO The Forum for Youth Investment |
| Kathleen P. Enright Founding President and CEO Grantmakers for Effective Organizations |
Donald J. Peurach, PhD Associate Professor School of Education University of Michigan |
| Frank Farrow Director Center for the Study of Social Policy |
Alice Rivlin Former Director Office of Management and Budget Brookings Institution |
| Thaddeus Ferber Vice President for Policy The Forum for Youth Investment |
Lisbeth B. Schorr Senior Fellow Center for the Study of Social Policy |
| Lawrence Green, DPH Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and BioStatistics UCSF School of Medicine |
Joshua Sparrow, MD Director of Strategy, Planning and Program Development Brazelton Touchpoints Center Boston Children's Hospital |
| Michele Jolin Founder and Managing Partner Results for America |
The first stage of the work of the Friends of Evidence culminated in November 2014, with a Symposium on the Future of Evidence, to explore how a broader approach to evidence could make reform efforts in health, education, social services and community change more effective, as well as more accountable. The participant deliberations during the event illuminated the growing complexity of social problems and their solutions, and the new approaches to generating, analyzing and applying evidence now in use to improve critical societal outcomes and to assure the wise allocation of scarce resources.The symposium was generously supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
- Background paper: An Evidence Framework to Improve Results
- View the agenda
- Read Keynote Speaker Alice Rivlin's remarks: The Changing Role of Evidence in Social Policy
- Download Anthony Bryk's PowerPoint: Generating a Full Spectrum of Evidence
- Watch the full recorded event or click below for individual speakers and panels
