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Martin,
Thanks so much for posting.  I don't know that I read the memo as such good news as the blogger writes, since early memos aren't included in the links, but hopefully it reflects some softening of a former harder position.   In any case it's a very worthwhile read.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-17.pdf  (also below).  

I wish we had one major controlled study that demonstrated the longterm benefits on educational achievement, cognitive function, level of success, or STEM choices caused by visiting a science center, or museum that correlated with frequency of visit, subject material presented, and level of engagement.  I don't know what it would take to do it.  Until that happens, informal programs such as museum visits,etc. are at the mercy of hearsay, innuendo, and speculation.

It is hard to imagine that in an era of ever tightening resources that there won't be continuous pressure for proven programs (correlated sustained benefits).

C

On Aug 8, 2013, at 8:37 AM, Martin Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Not sure how many see this except for the SEPA community. I find it
> interesting and innovative that the government maybe adopting the idea of
> gathering evidence for tier programs. Though a critique of this is it
> drives policy to easily measured outcomes and ignores evidence of those
> outcomes that are or difficult to measure.
> 
> Martin
> 
> On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 11:18 AM, Beck, Tony L. (NIH/OD) [E] <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Dear SEPA Colleagues****
>> 
>> ** **
>> 
>> On July 26 the OMB released a memo about the government’s evidence and
>> innovation agenda<http://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2013/08/~/link.aspx?_id=8AC1FF8D8369436CA5004B3CAC9E18D1&_z=z>
>> .****
>> 
>> ** **
>> 
>> M-13-17, *Next Steps in the Evidence and Innovation Agenda*<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=SUBJECT%3A%20Next%20Steps%20in%20the%20Evidence%20and%20Innovation%20Agenda&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fomb%2Fmemoranda%2F2013%2Fm-13-17.pdf&ei=yrUDUtCMFNev4AOY6YHQBQ&usg=AFQjCNHXZwj_mIRmCzla3RydkC4pJPKMsQ>
>> ****
>> 
>> www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/.../m-13-17.pdf ****
>> 
>> 
>> OMB's evidence memo deserves praise****
>> 
>> *Regardless of whether the "evidence agenda" in the White House is
>> well-known, this memo is good news, in two respects. First, evidence is a
>> good thing to help us make decisions. This statement is not necessarily as
>> uncontroversial as it might sound. In political debates, Republicans have
>> often been averse to evidence about phenomena in the natural world (climate
>> change or evolution), while Democrats have often been averse to evidence
>> about government programs, out of a worry that gathering evidence might
>> show a lack of impact. *
>> 
>> *There is a second piece of good news in the memo as well. Traditionally,
>> those promoting the use of evidence in government have often insisted
>> somewhat dogmatically on what are often very expensive, long-duration,
>> hard-to-execute randomized controlled trials to test the impact of
>> government programs. (In such a trial, program results for people who are
>> randomly assigned to receive a certain government intervention are compared
>> with those who do not. In another form, people who planned to participate
>> but didn't are compared with those who planned to participate and did.) *
> 
> -- 
> –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
> Martin Weiss, PhD
> Senior Scientist
> New York Hall of Science
> mweiss at nyscience.org
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> desk 718 595 9516
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Charles Carlson
Senior Scientist | Teacher Institute

http://blogs.exploratorium.edu/whyintercept/
Twitter: @charliec53
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