Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Policymakers are increasingly promoting or requiring the use of impact evidence by social and human service providers. At the same time, continuous improvement initiatives are gaining in popularity among practitioners and funders who emphasize learning and innovation through strategies such as continuous quality improvement, improvement science, learning communities, and plan-do-study-act cycles. This paper examines these two movements – evidence-based policy/program/practice and continuous improvement – through the lens of accountability. It draws on accountability frameworks of Romzek and Dubnick (1987), Gruber (1987), Behn (2001), and others to consider the complementarities and tensions that arise from the confluence of the evidence-based policy and continuous improvement movements, with examples from particular policy domains.