ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

OPM Announces New Job Series

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

The 2016 Program Management Improvement Accountability Act required OPM to develop a new job series for program and project management, and to identify the key skills and competencies needed for program and project managers in federal agencies. Seven years later, OPM has now issued such guidance to agencies.

Australian Government Creates a Centre for Evaluation to Measure What Works

Australian Treasury

Building a better feedback loop within government is in the interests of all Australians, and shows our commitment to real outcomes, evidence-based policy, and a culture of continuous improvement. The government is budgeting $10 million over 4 years to implement this initiative, with a staff of 14. Here’s a more in depth story of how the Centre will work.

Strengthening Randomized Evaluations with Qualitative Research, Part 1

JPAL-North America

Randomized evaluations allow researchers to measure the impact of programs and policies on a range of outcomes. But what mechanisms are driving the effects of these programs and policies? In recent years, many researchers within the traditionally quantitative field of economics have also incorporated qualitative methods into their studies and built teams with qualitative expertise to strengthen their research.

Resource of the Week:  30^th Anniversary of GPRA

C-SPAN (11 minutes)

The Government Performance and Results Act was signed August 4, 1993. Here’s a short video of the White House bill signing ceremony.

Using Data to Improve Customer Service

Federal News Network

Interview with the director of data and evaluation at the Health Resources and Services Administration (a part of the Department of Health and Human Services). Alek Sripipatana oversees the entire “life cycle” of data for 30 million service recipients of federal health services.

Pandemic Spending Exposes Weaknesses in How Data Is Handled

RouteFifty

Keeping track of how pandemic relief money was spent by localities is extremely difficult due in part to the problems that state and local agencies have in collecting and analyzing data, as well as the technological limitations associated with their databases.

Resource of the Week:  Key Performance Indicators Infographic

Key Performance Institute (via LinkedIn)

Here’s an infographic that puts an entire semester’s worth of info on a single page! It will take hours to digest, though, since there’s so much rich content to absorb.

Data Science Driving Major Changes to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s Operating Model

Federal News Network

The U.S. Treasury’s Fiscal Service wants its employees to have data skills. It launched a pilot, called 30-days of data science, in 2021 that has now evolved into the Fiscal Data University. It’s about nine months into the first cohort of 40 employees going through the training.

Cities Explore Transparent Budget Process

RouteFifty

The city of Denton, TX, is just one example among several local governments that are looking to have a more transparent budget process that combines short-term budgetary thinking with long-term strategic planning. 

How to Do Strategic Planning Like a Futurist

Harvard Business Review

Chief strategy officers and those responsible for shaping the direction of their organizations are often asked to facilitate “visioning” meetings. This helps teams brainstorm ideas, but it isn’t a substitute for critical thinking about the future. 

Role of Artificial Intelligence in Program Evaluation

American Evaluation Association (blog post)

The author, Silva Ferretti, has been playing with ChatGPTI for some time now. She is surprised by the lack of debate regarding AI’s role in development and humanitarian program management. It is a game changer. “We as a field should be looking into it NOW.”

Resource of the Week:  Centre for Public Impact

Great infographic summing up how this global nonprofit foundation is helping government, philanthropy, and civil society organizations reimagine government so it works for everyone. It incorporates learning journeys, learning partnerships, and action research. 

CAP WEBINAR: Ensure Best Practices Aren’t Enemy of Better Practices (Wed., July 19 – 1 p.m. Eastern)

American Society for Public Administration

Hear how local government innovators from Myrtle Beach and Rock Hill, SC are using adaptations in process improvements and strategic planning to introduce sustainable positive changes in their municipalities.

Baking Data-Based Evaluations into Relief Programs

RouteFifty

A new program aims to help state and local governments make better data-based decisions about initiatives that use federal COVID recovery funds. The Leveraging Evaluation and Evidence for Equitable Recovery, or LEVER, initiative is a two-year program that offers workshops, multi-week training sprints and evaluation incubators to train public sector employees on data-based evaluation.

Tracking Pandemic Relief Spending – Data Problems Make That Difficult

RouteFifty

Government watchdogs run into data gaps when they try to track pandemic spending, according to a new report by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and 10 inspectors general offices.

Evidence-Based Policymaking: Helpful Practices

U.S. Government Accountability Office

This guide details key actions for implementing various practices and related illustrative examples from some of GAO’s recent audit reports.

Rigorous Evaluation vs. Trust-Based Learning

Center for Effective Philanthropy

While most of the philanthropy field continues down a business-as-usual evaluation path, a new approach to learning is rising — one that is rooted in trust, equity, and learning for impact. Some funders are suspicious of this reimagined framework.

Certificate Programs: Info Sessions to Learn about Fall On-Line Courses

National Center for Public Performance

Curious about whether a certificate program is right for your mid-career skill development? NCPP is hosting info sessions about their Fall courses on Public Communications (7/19), Analytics Leaders (7/20), and Strategic Performance Management (8/23). 

Resource of the Week:  Weekly US Government Data Roundup

USAFacts

You can sign up for a weekly roundup of the latest data and most popular content. Each week features a particular data set and explains the trends and policy context.

Data-Driven Approaches: Fortaleza, Brazil

What Works Cities

In 2012, Fortaleza (a city of 2.6 million) undertook an initiative to cut traffic fatalities. Using performance management and data-driven approaches, it reduced traffic fatalities by 57 percent over the following decade.

Measurement for Performance Improvement: In Search of the Golden Thread

Warwick Business School (Nicola Burgess)

A six-part blog series on the importance of measurement and interpreting data to create an ongoing culture of improvement, using the British National Health Service as a case study. It concludes with four key myths that underpin six key lessons illustrated in a “sketchnote.”

Does Performance Information Receive Political Attention?

Public Administration Review

A study that reviewed  Danish student standardized scores and how they are viewed by political leaders shows that performance information is paid attention to, even if it ultimately isn’t used in decisionmaking.