The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently issued Program Evaluation: Some Agencies Reported that Networking, Hiring, and Involving Program Staff Help Build Capacity, GAO-15-25. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 aims to ensure agencies use performance information in decision making, and OMB has encouraged federal agencies to strengthen their program evaluations. In a governmentwide survey of agency Performance Improvement Officers, GAO found uneven levels of evaluation expertise, organizational support, and use. About half of the agencies reported committing resources to obtaining evaluations by establishing a central office responsible for evaluation of agency programs, operations or projects. About half reported increased efforts to improve their capacity since 2011, and half reported increased use of evaluations to support management and policy decisions. The presenters will discuss which activities and resources agencies found useful for building their capacity to either conduct or use evaluations.

The report can be accessed on GAO’s home page at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-25. Please join us to discuss the issues raised in this report. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on how we can improve government capacity to conduct and use program evaluations.

Dr. Stephanie Shipman is an Assistant Director of the Center for Evaluation Methods and Issues of the Applied Research and Methods Team at GAO, where she directs studies of federal performance measurement and program evaluation methods and activities. She serves on the American Evaluation Association’s Evaluation Policy Task Force and is also a founder and coordinator of Federal Evaluators, an informal network of evaluation officials. She received the AEA Government Award in 2008.

Dr. Valerie Caracelli is a Senior Analyst in the Center for Evaluation Methods and Issues in the Applied Research and Methods Team at GAO. In addition to conducting congressionally requested studies, she consults with other GAO Teams on evaluation design issues and assists in examining the quality of evaluation studies. She has served on the Board of the American Evaluation Association and is on the Board of the Washington Evaluators.