2020

Sector Analysis

The 2020 State Standard of Excellence identifies data-driven and evidence-based practices, policies, programs, and systems in the child welfare, criminal justice, economic mobility, education, health, and workforce sectors. Since 2018, state governments continue to invest in evidence-based policymaking across sectors.

Blueprint Overlay

In 2020, Results for America released the Blueprint for Delivering Results in State Government (Blueprint), which serves as an implementation guide for the State Standard of Excellence. The Blueprint provides state governments with clear implementation strategies and actions for consistently and effectively using evidence and data in budget, policy, and management decisions. Together, the State Standard of Excellence and Blueprint provide policymakers with comprehensive resources to:

Create a high-level roadmap for how they can increase their capacity to use evidence and data in their decision-making

Build capacity to foster and sustain an organizational culture focused on learning and results

Improve investments by using their evidence and data capacity to invest taxpayer dollars in evidence-based solutions that achieve better results for their residents

The Blueprint identifies the action-oriented steps that state governments should take to build their capacity to use evidence and data to get better results through four themes: Managing for Results; Leveraging Data; Building and Using Evidence; and Investing for Results. Each theme encompasses corresponding State Standard of Excellence criteria, providing state leaders a way to map their progress over time. In recent years, state governments have significantly increased the number of examples in the State Standard of Excellence criteria that correspond to these four Blueprint Themes, demonstrating that state leaders are building their capacity to use evidence and data. In future years, state leaders can continue to make progress in the State Standard of Excellence by implementing the Blueprint’s Strategies and Actions.

State Standard of Excellence Example Growth by Blueprint Theme

The Blueprint for Delivering Results in State Government serves as an implementation guide for the State Standard of Excellence. For strategies and actions to achieve excellence in these themes and criteria, visit the Blueprint online. The chart below shows the growth of State Standard of Excellence examples by Blueprint theme from 2018-2020.