Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact is led by the state’s Director of Evidence and Impact. To advance Tennessee’s evidence-based budgeting efforts, the office defined five evidence steps, conducted program inventories, developed evidence reviews, and provided evidence-building technical assistance, such as guidance for prioritizing programs for evaluation funding and implementation. As part of the FY23 budget, Tennessee added a Chief Evaluation Officer position dedicated to leading the creation of agency and state learning agendas and administering new dedicated funding for program evaluations.

The Chief Evaluation Officer has overseen the development of a current state analysis of evaluation activities and capacity across Tennessee’s executive branch, the crafting of evaluation guidelines, development of a statewide learning agenda, and curriculum and materials to train agencies to develop their own learning agendas in partnership with the Office of Evidence and Impact.