The series consists of records created and received by the Directors, Operation Evaluation Department (OEDDR), and the Directors-General, Operations Evaluation (DGO), which relate to the creation of Annual Reviews of OED evaluations as well as Annual Reports on Operations Evaluation (AROE).

In September 1975, the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) began issuing a report known as the Annual Review of Project Performance Audit Results (ARPPARs) as a means of disseminating the results of the project performance audits it conducted. This review presented in summary the major findings of the audit reports for completed projects and the Bank's response to them. The findings of the ARPPARs were discussed by the Executive Board's Joint Audit Committee (JAC) and JAC's findings were then reviewed by the full Board. By July 1981, a selective system of performance auditing was implemented in OED in keeping with the increase in the number of projects funded. In 1986, the report was renamed the Annual Review of Project Performance Results (ARPPR), and by 1989, the ARPPR was replaced by the Annual Review of Evaluation Results (ARER) which provided a comprehensive summary of evaluation findings. By 1997, the name of the report had changed once again to the Annual Review of Development Effectiveness (ARDE). In the ARDE, OED used the outcomes of evaluations of completed operations to provide a longer view of performance trends. Records in this series that relate to these types of Annual Reviews include drafts, correspondence, memoranda, press releases, comments, and meeting minutes.

The first Annual Report on Operations Evaluation (AROE) covering the period July 1975 - June 1976 was published in October 1976. The main purpose of the report was to indicate the status of evaluation work in the Bank and to comment on the main findings of evaluation activities. Subsequent reports reviewed the independent evaluation work performed within OED and the self-evaluation conducted by the Bank's operating departments (for example, the AROE for 1985 covered OED evaluation activities and evaluations conducted within the International Finance Corporation [IFC], the Economic Development Institute [EDI], and the Bank's economics and research staff). The format of the AROE was determined by the DGO and the plan for developing the report was made in consultation with OED. Drafts of the report were circulated to Bank managers for comments and the final version was submitted to JAC for consideration by the Bank's Board of Executive Directors in conjunction with JAC's own report on evaluation and the ARPPAR (later ARER and ARDE). Records in this series that relate to the creation of AROEs include correspondence, memoranda, initiating notes and outlines, drafts, comments, and meeting minutes.