For public agencies at the federal, state or local levels that want to strengthen their evaluation capacity, creating a Chief Evaluation Officer role can be an important step. A leading example comes from the U.S. Department of Labor. The Chief Evaluation Officer position was created within the Department in 2010 in order to coordinate the Department’s evaluation agenda and work with the 17 agencies within the Department to design and implement evaluations. Today, the office has a staff of about ten people. It is led by Demetra Nightingale who has served as the Chief Evaluation Officer since 2011. The office is guided by a the Department of Labor’s Evaluation Policy, which emphasizes rigor, relevance, transparency, independence and ethics.
Demetra Nightingale join us to discuss the role that she and her office play. A researcher, evaluator and social policy expert, she was appointed as Chief Evaluation Officer after a 29 year career at the Urban Institute.
Web extra: Demetra Nightingale describes the new Data Analytics Unit within her office. [click here].