Evaluation is a critical component of continuous improvement in education. Robust evaluations enable engaged parties to determine program and intervention impact on key outcomes, identify areas for improvement, and guide future actions. Additionally, as educational systems increasingly focus on data-driven decisionmaking, evaluation becomes even more vital in ensuring continuous improvement processes and outcomes support intended goals. This paper proposes guiding principles for evaluating the effectiveness of programs and interventions. Additionally, it offers principled steps for integrating evaluation into a continuous improvement process. Building the insights from the previous information, this paper offers practical guidance for state and local educational agencies state education agencies' and local education agencies' (SEAs and LEAs) to use evaluation to foster sustainable improvement.