At a virtual event co-hosted by the National Governors Association today, Results for America highlighted North Carolina as a leading state in using evidence and data to deliver better results for North Carolinians.
Results for America, a national nonprofit that promotes evidence-based policymaking, released the 2022 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence, an annual report that assesses how states across the country are building and using data and evidence to drive budget, policy, and management decisions. This year’s Standard of Excellence identified 263 examples of data-driven and evidence-based practices, policies, programs, and systems (an increase of 61 from 2021) in 41 states across the country (an increase of five states from 2021).
North Carolina was one of eight Leading States recognized for using evidence and data to protect the health and safety of their residents, accelerate their states’ economic recovery, advance equity, and increase the impact of state investments.
“It’s an honor to see our state’s efforts recognized,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. “Our state government team is continually assessing data and evaluating programs to make sure taxpayers are getting their money’s worth with effective and efficient investments.”
North Carolina has been increasing capacity for evidence-based decision making across state government with strategic planning, evidence requirements for budget requests, and an annual Performance Management Academy to develop skills among agency program managers and policymakers. More recently, the North Carolina’s Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) launched the NC Project Portal, an innovative tool for developing research partnerships with state agencies.
“In this year’s State Standard of Excellence, we saw a significant acceleration of efforts by state leaders across the country to build evidence and use it to invest in what works,” said Michele Jolin, CEO and Co-Founder of Results for America. “States are investing their own funds as well as federal funds to build and strengthen their evidence and data capacity, and investing in evaluations to help ensure they are delivering the best results for their residents.”
For more information about how states are building their data and evidence capacity, visit Results for America’s 2022 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence.