Refining Program Data to Support Learning

A key learning resource for federal programs is the data that grant recipient organizations report about program participants, services delivered, and outcomes. Federal programs can use these data for multiple knowledge-building activities such as tracking trends, monitoring performance, and evaluating the extent to which funded services are working. Data provided by grant recipients are better able to inform federal programs when they include relevant measures and when grant recipients report data consistently, completely, and accurately. Periodically assessing data reporting requirements and procedures can help ensure the data have the best potential to contribute to learning in the field.

This spotlight describes how the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), collaborating with the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), reviewed the data reported by organizations receiving Direct Services to Survivors of Torture (SOT) grants. To accomplish this work, ORR and OPRE partnered with the ACF Evidence Capacity Support project. Child Trends led the engagement, with support from Mathematica.