Social Security Evidence Act Information
On January 14, 2019, the President signed H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, which emphasizes collaboration and coordination to advance data and evidence-building functions in the Federal Government. The “Evidence Act” requires agencies to develop evidence-based policy and evaluation plans and designate Evaluation Officers, Statistical Officials and Chief Data Officers to support and implement Federal evidence-building activities, open government data, and confidential information protection and statistical efficiency.
Evidence Act Officials
Evaluation Officer – Susan Wilschke, Associate Commissioner, Office of Research, Demonstration and Employment Support, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy
Statistical Official – Natalie Lu, Associate Commissioner, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy
Chief Data Officer – Adam Kavalsky, Associate Commissioner, Office of Analytics and Improvement, Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight
Evidence Act Documents
Evaluation Plan
The Annual Evaluation Plan describes the significant evaluation and evidence building activities planned. It does not describe the entire set of activities the agency will conduct, rather it describes the most significant activities that will be focused on for the year. Significant activities are items required by law or are aligned with goals in the Agency Strategic Plan.
FY 2025 Evaluation Plan
FY 2024 Evaluation Plan
FY 2023 Evaluation Plan
FY 2022 Evaluation Plan
Learning Agenda
The Learning Agenda describes the agency’s evidence-building roadmap to support the goals in the Agency Strategic Plan (ASP). We identify priority questions that correspond to the ASP goals. The priority questions include short-term and long-term questions related to our mission, strategic plans, and agency operations.
FYs 2022-2026 Learning Agenda
Capacity Assessment
The Capacity Assessment provides a baseline the agency will use to measure improvements to the coverage, quality, methods, effectiveness, and independence of our evaluation, research, statistics, and data analysis.
FYs 2022-2026 Capacity Assessment
Evaluation Policy
The Evaluation Policy sets forth the agency policy on planning, implementing, and using evaluations. Evaluation, for the purposes of this policy, refers to an assessment using systematic data collection and analysis of one or more programs, policies, and organizations intended to assess their effectiveness and efficiency. All SSA offices should follow this policy for all evaluations.
Agency Evaluation Policy
Resources
| Agency Strategic Plan | SSA | Scientific Integrity Policy | Social Security Open Government |
| Evaluation.Gov | Federal CDO Council | StatsPolicy.gov |
| OMB Evidence Page |