The pathway to the horizon is seldom clear, and the development of the character and tools to navigate there generally comes in subtle steps the new Representative may not recognize. It is useful to have outside critical assessment to encourage advances as they occur. Continuous assessment will be available throughout the tenure of the subcommittee, as described below. In addition, after the publication of the final report, congressional leadership will take stock of this experiment in better legislation and assess the prospects of each subcommittee member as Promising or Flawed. The assessment will made by either of two criteria:

• Significant progress towards scientific maturity
  Has the Representative made good progress towards defining and addressing problems that combine science and societal interests?
   
• Movement towards scientific maturity, coupled with significant effort towards that goal
  Has the Representative made some progress towards defining and addressing such problems, coupled with a pattern of sustained effort that can support an expectation of future gains?

Representatives
Eventually there are elections and decisions of major donors, but at the moment, the primary means new Representatives can gain feedback is through Op-Ed pieces that will appear periodically in the Commonwealth Standard, to which all Representatives have a complimentary subscription. Naturally, there is greatest public scrutiny at times when there is greatest activity, e.g. open hearings or the publication of preliminary reports.

Staffers
Staffers will have the opportunity of gaining feedback through the submission of responses to periodic problem sets. In addition, twice during the orientation sessions, staffers will be offered extended simulations that will test their abilities to make use of the practices they have learned through the problem sets.