ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Problems with Performance Reporting: A Vermont Critique

Barrett & Greene

Here’s an investigative report by Douglas Hoffer, the Vermont State Auditor, about Vermont’s Annual Outcome Report. At the bottom of this blog post, you’ll see a short video in which Hoffer addresses his complaints with his state’s outcomes report. . . There are quite a few of them.

Atlanta Officers Scored on Level of Arrests

CBS News Channel 46

Channel 46 Investigates takes a look inside what some are calling an incentive system that encourages Atlanta police officers to arrest more people.

Announcing a New Initiative: The City Data Alliance

Bloomberg Cities Network

The Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance will identify 100 cities that are the most sophisticated, ambitious, and advanced at harnessing data and help them set a new standard for local governments committed to using data to power better results for residents.

China’s Disciplinary Enforcers Shift Focus from Corruption to Poor Performance

South China Morning Post

ChinChina’s President Xi Jinping is increasingly using the Communist Party’s disciplinary mechanisms, best known for tackling corruption, to punish poor performance, a study has found.

Resource of the Week:  Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative

The Results First initiative works with states to implement an innovative evidence-based policymaking approach that helps them invest in policies and programs that are proved to work. This project is co-sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the MacArthur Foundation.

Meet the “Nudgers” – Pushing Behavioral Science to New Levels

Bloomberg Cities Network

Many city leaders took what they learned [about the uses of behavioral insights] and are now seeding it more deeply into their organizations. . . . Bloomberg Cities caught up with four people leading these efforts in U.S. city halls to learn more about how they’re using nudges in local government and what they’ve learned along the way. 

Four Ways to Make Data Work Better for Residents

Results for America

“Rather than try to overhaul their entire data infrastructure in a single pass, local governments can look to their peers for smaller, more attainable ways to improve their data practices. ”

Auditor’s 2021Annual Accountability Report

City of Portland (OR)

The year 2021 may best be described as one of endurance and reflection. . . . Community groups and leaders embraced our recommendations and joined our call for better, more equitable government.  

Tennessee Creates New System to Track Procurement Diversity

GovTech

Tennessee’s Governor’s Office of Diversity Business Enterprise (Go-DBE) launched dashboards last week to report contracting diversity spend and increase transparency around this data. . . . There is a public-facing dashboard that will be updated weekly as well as internal, agency-specific dashboards to track metrics related to increasing minority group participation in the government contracting process.

Shared Measures: Collective Performance Data Use in Collaborations

Alexander Kroll, Cambridge University Press (book)

Traditionally, performance metrics and data have been used to hold organizations accountable. This case study of collaboratives in North Carolina that were established to develop community responses to the opioid epidemic. It explains the use of shared performance measures in collaborative settings.

Resource of the Week:  Leap of Reason Initiative

The Leap of Reason Initiative is aimed at inspiring and supporting great leaders and funders in the nonprofit and foundation communities to build great organizations for greater societal impact by creating meaningful, measurable, and sustainable improvements in the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Its website contains numerous resources and a framework in which implementation can take place.

The Persistent Problem of Poor Data Quality

Barrett & Greene

Unquestionably the problem of poor data quality needs continued – and more aggressive – attention. We know there have been improvements in many places since we wrote our 2015 feature, but though people who are dedicated to state and local government are taking steps in the right direction, in the words of Robert Frost they have “miles to go before they sleep.”

The Performance Practice

Leap Ambassadors Community

The Performance Practice is a structured approach to help organizations delve deeper into the Performance Imperative and apply it for ongoing reflection, learning, and continuous improvement. . . . Each module of the Performance Practice is based on one of the seven pillars of the Performance Imperative.

The Role of Evidence in How Local Governments Spend Federal Pandemic Relief Funds

Mathematica (Podcast – 1 hour)

Guests Zachary Markovits of Results for America, Christy McFarland of the National League of Cities, and Candace Miller of Mathematica discuss local spending of federal aid from the American Rescue Plan Act, including the role that data, evidence, and evaluation play in the use of those funds.

Using Behavioural Insights in the Public Service (free online workshop – March 2^nd)

Apolitical.co

Join this free online workshop to gain an understanding of behavioural insights and learn how they can be employed in the public service to help government tackle a wide range of issues, from public engagement to pandemic management.

The Road to Rigorous Evaluation

CalData

As part of our statewide data strategy, CalData is working to increase the capacity of the State workforce and leadership to appropriately use data and evidence to support their work. We want to improve the capacity to ask key questions, use data tools effectively, and approach evaluation across our workforce.

Resource of the Week:  MITRE Center for Data Driven Policy

The Center for Data-Driven Policy is a resource for government, universities, think tanks, and other organizations to draw on for evidence- and experiential-based insights on policy priorities.

Rooting out Fraud in Government Programs

Government Executive

Machine-learning helps spot fraud, waste and abuse because it can not only automatically check massive amounts of data for signs of sketchy activity but also improve over time.

Transparency Websites: Interview with West Virginia State Auditor

Barrett & Greene

West Virginia state auditor JB McCuskey uses a state-level transparency website to allow citizens to see how American Rescue Plan monies are being spent. He’s also offered free accounting software to cities and town who want help recording the kinds of information the US Treasury is requiring as a condition of receiving these funds. Here’s a 20-minute web interview with McCuskey on West Virginia’s approach, which is a leading national best practice.

Guidelines for Building a Potent Performance Management System: CAP Webinar on March 1, 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Barrett & Greene

A recent Urban Institute paper by Harry Hatry and a number of co-authors, propose a series of “dos and don’ts” tips to strengthen performance management systems. Hatry will engage in a discussion of this paper along with co-authors Katherine Barrett, Richard Greene, and Maria Aristigueta. 

Immense Fraud Creates Immense Task

Washington Post

Roughly two years after lawmakers approved their first tranche of rescue funds, the U.S. government is grappling with an unprecedented challenge: how to oversee its own historic stimulus effort. Totaling nearly $6 trillion. . .  creating a unique and long-term strain on the nation’s policymakers to ensure the funds have been put to good use.

Kansas Performance Budgeting: Keeping Expectations in Check

Barrett & Greene

Kansas state auditors noted in a new report that the state’s executive budget division met most of the basic requirements of the Kansas 2016 performance-based budgeting law, it didn’t mince words on the actual impact of all the law: “This doesn’t seem to have meaningfully changed how the state budgets,” auditors wrote in big bold letters on page 2 of the audit.

Shared Measures: Collective Performance Data Used in Collaborations

Cambridge University Press (Alexander Kroll)

Increasingly, we see partnerships among government agencies, private or nonprofit organizations, and civil society groups. Such collaborations may also use goals, measures, and data to manage group efforts, however, the application of performance practices here will likely follow a different logic. This book draws on a case study of collaboratives in North Carolina that were established to develop community responses to the opioid epidemic. 

Resource of the Week: Charting the Next Decade of Evidence Generation in State and Local Governments: A Virtual Webinar Series

J-PAL North America (Poverty Action Lab)

 Speakers in the series will discuss how state and local governments and researchers can develop and implement evaluations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, racial equity, and climate change and environmental justice. 

ASPA and CAP Announce Award Recipients for 2022

The American Society for Public Administration and its Center for Accountability and Performance announce the recipients of the Center’s annual recognition awards for Emerging Leaders, a Performance Practitioner, a Scholar, and an Organization distinguished in using performance information. The award ceremony will be held in conjunction with ASPA’s annual conference.

Introducing the New PPB – Pragmatic Program Budgeting

World Bank

Program budgeting is a reform that intends to shift the focus of budgetary processes from control of inputs to producing measurable results. This paper aims to help resolve the tensions between planning, management, and control in pursuit of higher performance from governments. 

Reflect and Reimagine: Learning from Our N. America Team in 2021

Center for Public Impact

 20+ actions public servants and organizations that work with government can take to drive better outcomes in their communities, such as designing programs around learning and adaptation.

Where Project Managers Go Wrong and What to Do About It

Government Executive

Despite training and good intentions, project managers often make the same mistakes over and over again. Here are some things you can do to improve your PM’s performance.

The Rethinking Budget Initiative

Government Finance Officers Association

We believe that local governments have an opportunity to update budgeting practices to take advantage of new ways of thinking, new technologies, and to better meet the changing needs of communities. It covers strategic planning, public engagement, and other topics. Rethinking Budgeting is an on-going initiative.

A Best Practice Leader in Pandemic Response and Recovery

Washington County, OR

Washington County was one of four counties nationally to demonstrate a clear investment across all data and evidence criteria in Results for America’s Data, Evidence, and Outcome Provisions Assessment for ARPA Recovery Plan Performance Reports. Here’s a link to its Rescue Plan webpage.

The Value of Organizational Health

PATimes (Andrew Kleine)

As chief administrative officer for Montgomery County, MD, he developed and used 10-12 measures of organizational health as a regular part of senior leadership strategy sessions and departmental performance discussions. If you want your dashboard to be a tool for progress, and not just artwork, set targets for improvement on each of your organizational health indicators. 

Resource of the Week:  Florida Benchmarking Consortium

The FBC is the largest intra-state local government benchmarking consortium within the United States. There currently are 50+/- member local governments.  Each member participates across 20 local government performance management-focused service areas, potentially using a combined total of over 800 performance measures.