http://www.aspanet.org/Public/ASPADocs/CAPFellowship.pdf

Center for Accountability and Performance (CAP) Fellowship Announcement
Social Equity Performance Measures
Application Deadline: September 15, 2014

The issues of Equity and Social Justice have long been important social and academic areas of passion and intellectual interest. As part of the evolution of social equity issues in the public policy arena, there is interest in advancing the understanding of appropriate community level indicators and policy and program-level performance measures to advance discussion, thinking, and action. The American Society of Public Administration’s Center for Accountability and Performance in collaboration with the National Academy of Public Administration’s Social Equity in Governance standing panel are chartering this project to identify promising approaches for measuring and advancing the measurement of social equity.

Project Scope: This project is designed to capture the current “state of the field” on social equity performance measurement. The project is to be based on an inventory of current social equity frameworks, indicator systems, and performance measurement practices by federal, state and local governments. Ideally, the work will provide a balance between academic and practitioner perspectives drawing from academic literature and empirical operational experiences. Work should address the breadth of social equity measurement, including national and community level indicators as well as programmatic and outcome-level performance measurement systems.

CAP Research Fellows: CAP has a practice of enabling academics and professionals to be designated as CAP Research Fellows for projects related to the mission of the organization. This project anticipates the designation of at least two CAP fellows: one from an academic institution and one from a public sector/nonprofit organization. CAP provides technical assistance, links fellows to researchers and practitioners in performance measurement, and disseminates research reports by fellows. CAP Fellows are uncompensated.

Project Sponsors:
 Susan T Gooden, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; ASPA Vice President and NAPA Fellow (stgooden@vcu.edu)
 Blue Wooldridge, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; NAPA Fellow and Chair of NAPA’s Standing Panel on Social Equity in Governance (bwooldri@vcu.edu)
 Michael Jacobson, Deputy Director for Performance and Strategy, King County WA; CAP Vice President (michael.jacobson@kingcounty.gov)
 James H. Svara, Visiting Professor, School of Government, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NAPA Fellow (james.svara@sog.unc.edu)

For further details and information, please see the link below:

http://www.aspanet.org/Public/ASPADocs/CAPFellowship.pdf

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Accountability and Performance Weekly – June 7-13

Performance Management
Are agencies meeting cross-agency goals? OMB reviews make it hard to tell
Shefali Kapadia, Federal News Radio
OMB’s assessments of cross-agency priority (CAP) goals could use improvement, according to a GAO report.

GAO: OMB doesn’t always properly track cross-agency goals
Ryan McDermott, FierceGovernment
OMB isn’t doing enough to assess cross agency priority goals, a GAO report says.

Donovan Welcomes What Senator Calls the Best and Worst Job in Government
Eric Katz, Government Executive
HUD secretary says he would bring data-driven approach to OMB.

OMB to press for new benchmarks
Steve Watkins, Federal Times
OMB and interagency management councils will soon be pressing federal resource managers to develop new benchmarks for managing their agencies.

Analysis/Evaluation
Harnessing Evidence and Evaluation: Insights from Kathy Stack, Advisor, Evidence-Based Innovation, OMB
Michael Keegan, Business of Government
In a climate of fiscal austerity, it is far better to cut programs with minimal impact and improve existing programs, based on evidence from high-quality program evaluations. What is program evaluation? How can evidence and rigorous evaluation be best integrated into decision-making?

Open Government
The Future of Government Digital Services
InnovateGov
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) recently launched its 18F Team, a digital services delivery team dedicated to the implementation of innovative digital and web services within the Federal Government.

A brief history of open data
Luke Fretwell, Federal Computer Week
From eight simple principles to today’s vast ecosystem, here’s what’s happening — and how to take full advantage.

Transparency, Legitimacy, and Trust
John Kamensky, Business Of Government
Does greater transparency in government translate into greater citizen legitimacy and trust for government action? It depends, concludes a new study by a Swedish scholar.

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Accountability and Performance Weekly – May 31-June 6

Performance Management
The problem at the VA: ‘Performance perversity’
Donald Moynihan, Los Angeles Times
An investigation of the VHA points to systemic problems, but does not explain why these problems occurred. The most likely answer is “performance perversity”: Imperfect performance measures were tied to pay incentives.

OPM expanding HRstat to help agencies parse workforce data
Jack Moore, Federal News Radio
Eight additional agencies have signed on to participate in HRStat, which uses data-driven review sessions to help agencies better parse out HR data and trends and use them to assess their performance.

5 Tips for Easing the Oversight Burden for Grant Programs
Arleta Cobb, Government Executive
How to strike the right balance between monitoring and the mission.

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Accountability and Performance Weekly – May 24-30

Performance Management
VA waiting lists and performance measurement
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Kelman argues that allegations about secret wait lists at the VA are a sign of performance management’s power, not its problems.

What’s so scary about performance ratings?
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Of course metrics can reflect factors outside your control. But that, Kelman argues, is why there is multiple regression.

Analytics/Evaluation
OMB: Agencies need to break down walls and unlock big data
Andy Medici, Federal Times
Agencies need to knock down institutional barriers and work with other agencies in order to unlock the potential of big data.

Collaboration
Program management: Governance matters
Richard Spires, Federal Computer Week
Getting stakeholders to agree on desired outcomes and ways to achieve them is crucial to ensuring the success of IT programs.

Efficiency/Reorganziation
Managing Business Process Reengineering
Innovategov
This article summarizes the framework provided by GAO for managing reengineering efforts once the agency has determined that reengineering efforts are appropriate in one or more areas.

Innovation
Building the systems for innovation
Federal Computer Week
Federal agencies can’t operate like Silicon Valley startups, but even the largest organization can manage for great innovation.

Remembering the human element in innovation
Colby Hochmuth, Federal Computer Week
Tighter budgets could be a catalyst for rethinking how government operates, says OMB’s Kathryn Stack.

How a Small Group of Entrepreneurs Transformed Government Services
Aneesh Chopra, Government Executive
More than 50 other entrepreneurs filled senior Administration roles, applying technology and innovation to advance agency missions.

Open Government
Treasury official calls for quick Data Act demos
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
As Treasury moves to implement the Data Act, potential costs and agency buy-in remain concerns.

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Accountability and Performance Weekly – May 17-23

Performance Management
The Reluctant Executive
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
The Obama administration can help cement the big steps already made: getting agency managers to decide which performance balls they most want to move down the field, producing good measures to keep score, making progress on crosscutting issues, and ensuring that the President’s Management Council is institutionalized.

Collaboration
ODNI builds toolbox for information interoperability
Brian Robinson, Government Computer News
An information-sharing project recently launched by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence aims to develop a set of tools that would make it easier for government agencies at all levels, as well as private sector organizations, to move data between existing networks and systems.

Innovation
GSA’s digital incubator tackles contracting, hiring times
Andy Medici, Federal Times
The agency’s 18F digital services incubator is tackling issues across government in order to disrupt inefficient traditions and replace them with flexible, cost-effective and more user-friendly ways of conducting government business.

Your Idea for Improving Program Management Could Be Worth Something
Frank Konkel, Government Executive
The Performance Improvement Council has issued a challenge to federal employees, industry reps and the public to describe what public sector program management would ideally look like in 25 years.

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