As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West invited the public to a lecture titled "Obama’s Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy" by Brookings Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Ron Haskins. This lecture told the story of how the Obama administration changed the role of evidence in federal policymaking. Based on public documents and 135 interviews with major players from the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, federal agencies, Congress, and the child advocacy community, the lecture provided insight into the tools and methods that should serve as a blueprint for policymakers on how to bring social science evidence – especially from program evaluation – to the center of policy making.