Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Roundtable: Building on Past Success: Stories of Evidence-Based Policymaking to Inspire the New Administration

(The Impacts of Politics on the Policy Process)

APPAM will be meeting just days before a pivotal Presidential election for the evidence-based policymaking movement. Will the new President (and Congress) build on the work of the Bush and Obama Administrations in advancing the use of research evidence in policymaking? Are there success stories from last two Administrations that could inspire the new leadership to maintain the momentum? Cautionary tales that they could learn from? Join a roundtable of experts offering different perspectives on the federal scene for some informed advice-giving (and prognosticating)! This APPAM roundtable, the eighth in an annual series on evidence-based policymaking, will focus on success stories from the past several years that may serve as both inspiration and concrete guidance for the new Administration. Panelists include current and former federal agency officials involved in evidence-building, a Republican staffer from Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, and the president of an organization that advocates for the use of evidence in education policymaking. This proposal stems from roundtables that Jenni Owen and John Hutchins have organized at each APPAM conference since 2009 on the major growth in attention to and use of evidence in education and social policymaking. We began in 2009 with a look at “evidence-based policymaking (EBP),” focusing on the new emphasis on EBP at the federal level and across the nation. In 2010, the panelists considered whether EBP was “for real” — as would likely be revealed by its staying power during tight budget times. The 2011 roundtable examined the hot topic of “scaling up” evidence-based programs as a critical challenge for sustaining evidence-based work in policy and practice. The focus in 2012 was on the future of EBP in a time of unprecedented fiscal constraints. In 2013-2015, we focused on challenges, successes, and politics of evidence-based policymaking in states and localities and on particularly successful policymaker-researcher collaborations at the state and local levels.