What We Graded in 2021

Coronavirus Pages

In 2021, we re-graded the Coronavirus pages we had graded in 2020.  At the beginning of the pandemic, DHS had instructed federal agencies who were part of the government’s pandemic response to “stand up an agency.gov/coronavirus page.”  All agencies that we evaluated this year published a Coronavirus page. 

FOIA Request pages

All agencies that we evaluated this year published a FOIA request page, as required.  When there were multiple pages devoted to FOIA requests, we evaluate the main page, the one listed first when you google the agency’s name and “FOIA Request”; this main page is where a user would most likely go first and b) we needed a way to keep this consistent across agencies.  Judges were instructed to focus primarily on the main page,  while also examining any linked page that would be crucial to completing a FOIA Request —such as a “Make your FOIA Request” page; for these vital subpages, judges were to ensure that they would enable, not impede, a user from completing their request. Overall, judges were reminded to keep their focus on the user, with one question foremost: Can a user find and understand what they need to complete a FOIA Request?

Page Links by Agency