Show Me the Evidence

Obama's Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy

Ron Haskins, Greg Margolis

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780815725718
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780815725701
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The first comprehensive history of the Obama administration's evidence-based initiatives. From its earliest days, the Obama administration planned and enacted several initiatives to fund social programs based on rigorous evidence of success. Ron Haskins and Greg Margolis tell the story of six—spanning preschool and K-12 education, teen pregnancy, employment and training, health, and community-based programs.
Readers will appreciate the fast-moving descriptions of the politics and policy debates that shaped these federal programs and the analysis of whether they will truly reshape federal social policy and greatly improve its impacts on the nation's social problems.
Based on interviews with 134 individuals (including advocates, officials at the Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council, Congressional staff, and officials in the federal agencies administering the initiatives) as well as Congressional and administration documents and news accounts, the authors examine each of the six initiatives in separate chapters. The story of each initiative includes a review of the social problem the initiative addresses; the genesis and enactment of the legislation that authorized the initiative; and the development of the procedures used by the administration to set the evidence standard and evaluation requirements—including the requirements for grant applications and awarding of grants.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: The Obama Strategy for Attacking Social Problems
• 2. The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Initiative
• 3. The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative
• 4. The Investing in Innovation Initiative
• 5. The Social Innovation Fund Initiative
• 6. The Workforce Innovation Fund Initiative
• 7. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Initiative
• 8. So Far, So Good
• Appendix A. Interviewees
• Appendix B. Questionnaire
• Appendix C. Share of Formula and Competitive Grant Funds in Six Evidence-Based Initiatives
• Appendix D. Abbreviations
• Notes
• Index
• Back Cover