Legislative Program Evaluation: Utilization-Driven Research for Decision Makers

One of the signature steps in the evolution of the modern legislature was the development of program evaluation capabilities. Legislative program evaluation (LPE) allows legislatures to ensure that the programs they establish or fund are operating efficiently, effectively, and economically. Unlike evaluations that have knowledge development as their primary purposes, LPE is utilization-driven because its customer-the legislature-demands useful, timely knowledge "in plain English." LPE's focus on utilization creates some unique conditions, methods, processes, and products that add overall value to the field of program evaluation. This volume of New Directions for Evaluation gives an overview of the dynamic field of LPE and reveals what evaluators can learn from LPE's innovative work. Chapters explore LPE's creation of databases using new technologies; techniques for communicating evaluation findings to the client; use of convergent methods to strengthen findings in complex study areas; and application of "out-of-the-box" approaches to evaluation, such as systems modeling. This is the 81st issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Evaluation.