Author Archives: Patrick Lester

Trump Administration Proposes Eliminating SIF, Cutting Teen Pregnancy Prevention; EIR Unaffected

The Trump administration has proposed eliminating the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) and cutting the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program in a package sent to Congress covering the budget for the remainder of the current fiscal year, according to a … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Evidence, Social Innovation Fund

OMB Memo Signals Possible Elimination of Social Innovation Fund

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is circulating a memo that targets nine federal programs for elimination by the Trump administration, one of which is the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that houses the … Continue reading

Posted in Evidence, Social Innovation Fund

School Improvement Grant Program’s Failure Points to Evidence-based Policy as an Answer

Last month Mathematica Policy Research released a tough report on the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. The conclusion? After $7 billion spent, the program had no effect on student achievement in some of the nation’s … Continue reading

Posted in Education

Trump OMB Nominee May Support Reworked Evidence-based Budget Tool

President Trump’s nominee to head OMB, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, indicated at two different Senate hearings on January 24 that he will consider reviving the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which the Bush administration used to examine the effectiveness of federal … Continue reading

Posted in Evidence

Reading the Evidence Tea Leaves: Trump Inaugural Address Cites Welfare, Education

What role will evidence play in the new administration?  While that is not yet clear, in his inaugural address President Trump called out two issues where evidence-based policy has been playing an increasingly important role: education and welfare. While both issues … Continue reading

Posted in Evidence, Politics

Investing in Innovation (i3): Strong Start on Evaluation and Scale, But Greater Focus Needed on Innovation

The Social Innovation Research Center has today released a report examining the early progress of the Investing in Innovation (i3) program. The executive summary follows below. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is an evaluation of the Investing in Innovation (i3) program, … Continue reading

Posted in Education

Building Evidence in Education: i3’s Past and Future

The following is an excerpt from SIRC’s report on the i3 program. In it, national experts and former Obama administration officials weigh in on lessons learned and the program’s possible future. EPILOGUE Viewed in isolation, the i3 program – while … Continue reading

Posted in Education

Trump Selects Ryan Ally as White House Budget Director

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) as his nominee for director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. The OMB director oversees the development of the proposed presidential budget, various performance and management functions, and … Continue reading

Posted in Politics

ED Announces First Round of Grants Under i3’s Replacement

The Department of Education today announced the availability of new grants under the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program, an updated version of the Investing in Innovation (i3) program. As was the case with i3, EIR has three tiers of … Continue reading

Posted in Education