Next Generation Evidence serves as a prequel to Show Me the Evidence: Obamas Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy by Ron Haskins and Greg Margolis. While Show Me the Evidence highlighted the importance of prioritizing funding for programs with evidence, Next Generation Evidence looks at how we can build the pipeline of evidence-producing programs.
Evidence is remarkably powerful; it helps us understand the needs of communities, make decisions in times of change and scarcity, and build and do more of what works. However, practitioners face a number of structural and practical hurdles to building and using evidence. Traditional evaluation and research methods are often not timely, affordable, meaningful, or inclusive for helping practitioners make decisions to increase their impact for people and communities. Too often and for too long, evaluation was a thing done to practitioners and the communities they serve, relegating them to a passive role when they should be regarded as leaders of this work. Worse, their data and evidence has been used against them in disempowering thumbs-up, thumbs-down circumstances, rather than for learning and improvement that leads to impact.
Next Generation Evidence features innovative thinking from leaders across policy, philanthropy, research, and practice. Together, these leaders lay out a vision for a stronger, more equitable data and evidence ecosystem that centers on the voices of people and communities most directly impacted by the problems we seek to solve. Throughout the book, case studies featuring practitioners at various stages in their evidence-building journey highlight concrete illustrations of how continuous evidence building can benefit organizations and outcomes for communities.
Kelly Fitzsimmons is a committed social innovator. Before founding Project Evident in 2017, Kelly served as vice president / chief program and strategy officer at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF), where she led policy innovation, evaluation, grantmaking, and the early capital aggregationpilot. Prior to EMCF, she cofounded Leadwell Partners and New Profit Inc., held senior leadership positions in nonprofit organizations, and served on several foundation and social sector boards and advisory committees. Kelly currently serves as a Leap of Reason ambassador and is a member of Results for America’s Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence Advisory Committee. A graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Fitzsimmons holds an MBA from Boston University.
Tamar Bauer is an attorney with expertise in harnessing policy strategies to drive better and more equitable outcomes for communities. She focuses on actionable innovation in the public and private sectors, with demonstrated success in driving federal and state policy change. As chief policy officer at Nurse-Family Partnership from 2006 to 2017, she helped secure $1.5 billion in federal funds to create the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program and mobilized $30 million in public and private funding to expand services for families in South Carolina’s Pay for Success initiative. Prior to NFP, Tamar helped launch the New York Academy of Medicine’s Child Health Forum and advanced policy work at the New York March of Dimes and American Academy of Pediatrics.
Next Generation Evidence tackles an increasingly important set of questions for any of us, and our organizations, on our way to seeking improvements for all members of society. Their five key insights should be driving us as we do this work: we have to center practitioners and those they serve; embed equitable processes and outcomes; work directly with the communities we seek to serve to identify the right kinds of evidence for action; think of the work more like an "engineering" process, not "one and done"—continuous, evidence-grounded iteration in consultation with users and communities; and be prepared to think innovatively about what kinds of new evidence will help us take actions to improve outcomes for each member of the community. A wealth of examples from different arenas make these points and show how this work can be done better, and that it makes a measurable difference when done this way. For anyone intending to craft increasingly effective solutions to complex social problems, this is a terrific and insightful resource.
— Bror Saxberg, founder, LearningForge
A powerful volume that is long overdue! Those of us who work with distressed communities welcome the book’s practical insights about how to make evidence building and use more equitable and effective. The book is a must read for community-based organizations, philanthropy, and all working to drive better outcomes for our communities.
— Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO, Harlem Childrens Zone
We have crossed the threshold into the "Data Age" and this book is a must-read to bring social impact evidence practices into the 21st century, where data is power. The book provides a comprehensive roadmap for practitioners, philanthropists, governments, and academia to make the changes necessary for this moment in time.
— Kriss Deiglmeier, Chief Social Impact Officer, Splunk
Next Generation Evidence is a powerful and much needed addition to the continuing national discussion about the importance of using evidence in improving our education system. Among other things it suggests ways that schools and districts can conduct research around their own activities along much shorter time horizons to test what is working and what needs to be refined, and how to take real-time action relative to implementation. The ideas presented are elegant and can make a tremendous difference for those who may think evidence gathering and synthesis are cumbersome and not useful, but who just want ways to know if a particular new approach is making the expected difference.
— Paolo DeMaria, president and CEO, National Association of State Boards of Education
A reflective and revealing roadmap! Next Generation Evidence highlights the central—yet often overlooked—role practitioners play in building and using evidence for greater equity and impact, and illustrates how policymakers and philanthropy can provide practitioner leaders with the resources they need to drive outcomes. Featuring an impressive array of viewpoints, the book shows that regardless of issue area or approach, data and evidence capacities are critical for organizations that care about equity and evidence (and deserving of support from equity and evidence-minded funders).
— Jean-Claude Brizard, president and CEO, Digital Promise
This timely book offers an essential antidote to the too-often narrow discussions about evidence production and use in public policy and in practice. It reminds us that the processes involved in producing and making sense of evidence have social, economic, and political dimensions, and the essays eloquently establish how evidence can be used for social good, and how we might correct for how evidence use can sometimes cause further harm in this prolonged era of deep and racialized inequality by engaging more deeply with practitioners, communities, and policy makers.
— Janelle Scott, professor and Birgeneau Distinguished Chair in Educational Disparities, University of California, Berkeley
Simply stated: this book is a must-read. The insight contained within these essays – presenting diverse reflections into the power and complexity of research, evidence, and practice – is more than just enlightening; its a beacon for those of us committed to forging real and meaningful impacts on future social outcomes.
— Justin Milner, Executive Vice President of Evidence and Evaluation, Arnold Ventures
Next Generation Evidence puts compelling practitioner voices front and center to demonstrate how evidence and the practice of evidence building can be reimagined. It shows how embedding equity and elevating community voice can build trust, increase the practical use of evidence to drive better outcomes, and right-size the level of rigor. It is an accessible and expansive overview of the state of the field – both what it is today and the hope for what it might become.
— Sam Azar, former Senior Director, US Research and Measurement, Habitat for Humanity International
Next Generation Evidence is a timely and essential compilation of ideas about innovation, equity, family engagement and cross-systems collaboration as drivers of transformation in the field of research and evidence building. Diverse voices illuminate facets of a powerful call to action: To build a brighter future for the nations children and families, we must expand the approaches used to document the effectiveness of community-based wellness, health, justice and child welfare interventions, practices and services.
— Sandra Gasca, vice president, Center for Systems Innovation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
