Washington

Washington has the infrastructure to support program evaluation and reporting. While most states have external auditing functions, it is notable that Washington has several internal facing entities: The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (legislative branch), State Auditor’s Office Performance Audit section (separately elected), and the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (nonpartisan research on behalf of the legislature) provide evaluation services. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’ Research and Data Analysis (RDA) division conducts evaluations for state partner agencies using a unique integrated client database. The Department of Children, Youth and Families Office of Innovation, Alignment, and Accountability, the Office of Financial Management’s Washington Data and Research Office, and the Education Research and Data Center, are other examples in addition to DSHS-RDA where executive branch agencies are staffed with substantial evaluation and analytic staff.

Since 2012, at the direction of the legislature, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) has produced a series of inventories of evidence-based, research-based, and promising programs. These inventories are developed with the aim of informing state agencies about effective and cost-beneficial options for service provision. In addition, a 2013 state law directed the Department of Corrections, in consultation with WSIPP, to: (1) compile an inventory of existing programs; (2) determine whether its programs were evidence-based; (3) assess the effectiveness of its programs, including conducting a benefit-cost analysis; and (4) phase out ineffective programs and implement evidence-based programs. As a result of laws like these that require evidence reviews and/or direct outcome evaluations, WSIPP has published hundreds of benefit-cost analyses in a wide variety of issue areas over the past 10 years. The WSIPP benefit-cost framework allows the translation of program effects into dollars and cents and has been emulated by several state governments across the country. 

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Research and Data Analysis (RDA) division provides policymakers with data and analyses to improve the effectiveness of services for clients. RDA maintains integrated client databases, which bring together data from 10 state agencies, 40 separate data systems, and individuals receiving services through publicly funded health and human services programs in Washington. Among many other applications, predictive modeling and clinical decision support tools developed and maintained in RDA’s integrated data environment have been used by the state’s Health Home Program to generate tens of millions of dollars in performance payments from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as the result of improved care management for persons dually enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.

In 2022 and 2023, the governmental organization Serve Washington used a tiered evidence framework from the AmeriCorps Evidence Exchange to both define and prioritize evidence, as well as allocate funds through its AmeriCorps Washington State Grant Program. Criteria from the Evidence Exchange assigned preference to evidence-based interventions assessed as ‘Moderate’ or ‘Strong’. To do this, the grant attributed points within the Evidence Base (up to 20) depending on the evidence tier reached, from Pre-Preliminary to Strong. Applicants assessed as lower than the Preliminary evidence tier (i.e., Pre-Preliminary) must provide adequate responses to the Evidence Quality review criteria in order to be considered for funding.” Applicants were encouraged to consider interventions through the AmeriCorps Mandatory Supplemental Guidance that further defined evidence tiers.

Results Washington published performance management dashboards and goal metrics from across state agencies and the governor’s five goal areas.

Within Results Washington the Governor’s performance audit liaison fosters the process among auditors, executive branch agencies, the Governor’s Office, the Office of Financial Management (OFM), and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). The liaison’s role includes working with the audited agencies and OFM or OCIO to provide a joint response for performance audits. The response includes specific agency actions and due dates that the liaison tracks and publishes through completion. We post agency actions plans on our website.

In 2020, Results WA implemented a Public Performance Review (PPR) process. The PPR process includes a monthly meeting with the Governor, agency leaders and experts, and community members designed to focus on a cross-agency project tied to the Governor’s five goal areas and to hear from those impacted by the project.

In order to improve outcomes and eliminate disparities, the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is shifting its entire contracted client services portfolio to performance-based contracts, a key priority in the agency’s 2021–2026 Racial Equity and Strategic Plan. The project intentionally focuses on deepening stakeholder engagement, using Performance-Based Contracting as a tool to identify and address disproportionality and outcome disparities, and facilitating continuous improvement through data and research. DCYF has successfully initiated the shift in over 70% of its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 contracts that invest approximately $1 billion each biennium in services to children, youth, and families. Statewide, the Department of Enterprise Services has provided a series of enterprise contracts and procurement training that include performance-based contract practices. This is required training for all employees who manage, monitor, or serve as subject matter experts on contracts.

Washington state’s Poverty Reduction Work Group (PRWG) is an interagency effort focused on the systemic policy, program, and partnership changes needed to realize our vision of a Washington without poverty and injustice. Governor Inslee created the PRWG in 2018, tasking the group to create a comprehensive, 10-year plan to reduce poverty and inequality. For two years, a diverse and dedicated group of 45 stakeholders, directed by a 22-member Steering Committee of people experiencing poverty, met monthly to ultimately craft and co-design eight strategies containing 60 specific recommendations that make up the Blueprint for an Equitable Future: The 10-Year Plan to Dismantle Poverty in Washington State (10-Year Plan).