Rakesh Retires

Idaho Capital Sun

CAP Board Member Rakesh Mohan retired this past week. His 21 years as the director of Idaho’s Office of Performance Evaluations was praised by Gov. Brad Little: “Rakesh and his team have set a high standard for providing impartial analysis of complex issues and evidence-based recommendations. Rakesh’s efforts have prompted major improvements to state services and meaningfully impacted Idahoans.”

Crime Data Lags, Thwarting Accountability & Decisionmaking

Washington Post

When the FBI next releases nationwide crime data this fall, the numbers will be up to 18 months old. That’s a problem for policymakers and for the American public. “As a democratic society,” said John Roman, director of the Center on Public Safety and Justice, NORC at the University of Chicago, “we need to know what the facts are, so elected leaders can solve the problem as it exists, not as it’s messaged.”

The Federal Chief Data Officers Council Awaits Guidance

FedScoop

Five years into its existence, the federal organization charged with helping agencies establish best practices for the use, protection and dissemination of data is a year away from sunsetting and still waiting on the release of White House guidance critical to its advisory mission. 

Harnessing State-Local Evaluations Post-ARPA

RouteFifty

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act provided $350 billion to state and local governments to pilot new interventions to tackle the country’s most critical issues and collect evidence on how well their solutions perform. . . . Governments have until the end of this year to decide how remaining ARPA funds will be spent (and until 2026 to spend the funds). Now is the time for local governments to use this funding to set up evaluations of key programs and policies made possible by ARPA.

Mission Critical: Statecraft for the 21^st Century

University College London

Just as missions call for new accountability metrics, they also invite a break from top-down approaches that have sometimes characterized major government undertakings, including those from local governments. Instead, report author Mariana Mazzucato sees government’s role here as that of an orchestrator taking a light-touch approach that creates space for actors to come together under a unified purpose. 

What Motivates Localities to Use Performance Management?

Barrett & Greene

In a guest column, Bloomberg Center chief of staff Rudy de Leon Dinglas writes: “my research found that transparency is generally closely linked to the motivations found in engaging in performance management practices. . . This alignment between transparency and performance management practices is seen as an enhancement to the legitimacy and credibility of government operations.”

Federal Lead for Customer Experience Has Exit Interview

Government Executive

Departing OMB executive Amira Boland says: “We have to get better about having the accountability system be oriented toward the ends of: ‘What are the outcomes of our programs? Are our programs delivering on the mission that they were statutorily created to do?’”

Resource of the Week: Do We Really Know What Works?

David E.K. Hunter (238 pp.)

This final book by program evaluation pioneer David Hunteris intended for social program practitioners, evaluators, funders, consultants, and advocates.  It contrasts two major evaluation approaches: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and realist evaluations. It offers a series of concrete proposals for improving the quality of program evaluations and refining how to use program evaluation to help improve the lives and prospects of social programs’ intended beneficiaries.