The U.S. Department of Education hosted the inaugural “Innovation Exchange” for Federal agency officials on July 10, 2015. It featured a series of brief presentations designed to convey practical, specific strategies to strengthen agency results through data, evidence and evaluation, performance management, analytics, innovation and more. More than 200 individuals attended, representing more than two dozen federal agencies – and more joined via streaming video.

The event was co-sponsored by the Performance Improvement Council at GSA, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

Innovation guide

The Innovation Exchange 2015 guide provides an overview of each strategy and innovation discussed.

Event video

Links to specific presentations

To watch a specific presentation, select the links below.

Welcome

• Welcome by John King, Delegated Deputy Secretary of Education

• Introduction to Innovation Exchange: Mission-focused innovation: Andy Feldman, Special Advisor for Evidence-Based Policy, U.S. Department of Education, and coordinator of Innovation Exchange 2015

Applying behavioral insights to address important agency challenges

• Using rapid experimentation informed by behavioral insights to improve communications with customers: Jessica Barrett Simpson, Senior Advisor for the Borrower Experience, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education

Data-driven strategies to improve results

• Using a PerformanceStat strategy (FEMAStat) to create cascading effects around data-driven change: Carter Hewgley, Enterprise Analytics Division Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency

• Linking data across agencies to build evidence and insights about programs: Carol Star, Director, Program Evaluation Division, Office of Policy, Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Catalyzing innovation to better achieve the mission

• Change from within: How internal innovation accelerator programs can cultivate talent, solve problems, and shift the tide of organizational norms: Read Holman, Program Director and Senior Advisor on Internal Entrepreneurship, HHS IDEA Lab, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Using prize competitions to deliver innovation and turn raw ideas into real products and services: Michael Contreras, Managing Director and American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, SunShot Catalyst prize challenge, Solar Energy Technologies Office U.S. Department of Energy

Keynote address

• Building and strengthening a culture of learning and improvement – lessons from the Department of Labor: Seth Harris, former Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor

Strengthening agency and practitioner capacity to use evidence

• Lifting up key principles for evaluators through an agency evaluation policy – rigor, relevance, transparency, independence, and ethics: Naomi Goldstein, Director, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Want evidence to be used by practitioners and decision makers? Make it accessible. Lessons from the What Works Clearinghouse: Joy Lesnick, Acting Commissioner, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education

Using innovative outcome-focused grant designs

• Employing a tiered-evidence grant design to use and build evidence about what works – insights from the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3): Shane Mulhern, Director, i3, Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education

• Using a Pay for Success approach to tackle important policy challenges: David Wilkinson, Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation

Putting innovative ideas into practice

• To make change, find partners: Kathy Stack, former Advisor for Evidence-Based Innovation, White House Office of Management and Budget.