Evaluation is an essential function of government. It can enhance oversight and accountability of federal programs, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services, assess which programs or policies are working and which are not, and provide critical information needed for making difficult decisions about them.
In keeping with our mission, AEA describes its vision of the role of evaluation in the federal government. An Evaluation Roadmap for a More Effective Government provides guidance for improving government through evaluation, outlining steps to strengthen the practice of evaluation throughout the life cycle of programs.
In 2009, AEA’s Evaluation Policy Task Force (EPTF) developed the first Evaluation Roadmap to share the lessons learned in public agencies that had shaped evaluation practice. It has been used by many organizations in the years since in shaping their evaluation policies and programs, and in 2019, the EPTF updated the Roadmap to provide guidance to the U.S. federal government on building evaluation capacity.
The 2026 update to the Evaluation Roadmap offers a renewed framework to guide organizations in U.S. and Tribal governments as they strive to ensure consistency in standards producing and using evaluation and evidence to inform policymaking.
Download the Roadmap