ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

How CDC Data Problems Put the U.S. Behind on the Delta Variant

Washington Post

The CDC’s failure to share real-time data led to overly rosy assessments of vaccine effectiveness – and complacency on the part of many Americans.

Data Set Demands and Remote Leadership among Top Challenges for CDOs During Pandemic

FedScoop

Chief Data Officers reported in a survey that the volume of demands for coronavirus-related datasets and communicating with staff in a remote environment were among the biggest challenges they faced during the pandemic.

Priority-Based Budgeting in Kansas City, KS

Resource Exploration

Example of an application of priority-based budgeting concepts in city’s 2022 proposed budget where spending is aligned to policy goals. 

Testing the Effectiveness of “Managing for Results”: Evidence from an Education Policy Innovation in New York City

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

Authors compare theory to practice in examining the grant of flexibility to city public school principals in order to improve school outcomes – and found “a significant and positive effect.”

Resource of the Week:  Open Baltimore Blog

The scoop on how Baltimore City government is using data for better service to residents.

Features of Effective Systemic Foresight in Governments Globally

Government Office for Science (United Kingdom)

This report showcases how eight governments around the world use foresight and futures techniques. It examines the key features of their programmes, and the impact they have on the quality and efficacy of policies and strategies.

Why Evidence Should Be the Servant, Not the Master, of Good Policy

Apolitical (Thea Snow and Adrian Brown)

The term “evidence-based policy” was made popular in the 1990s by the Blair Labour government in the UK and, over the ensuing years, “the ideals of evidence-based policy became a global movement.” Now, a couple of decades on, how do we feel about this?

Budgeting for Climate: The City of Pittsburgh Repurposes Resources for a Sustainable Future

The Atlas

Through Priority Based Budgeting, the City of Pittsburgh, PA, identified $41 million in resource repurposing opportunities.

Agency Equity Metrics a Work in Progress

Government Executive

Acting OMB Director Shalanda Young described the measurement of equitable service as a “nascent” field, in need of constant development and review.

HUD Program Evaluation Policy Statement

Federal Register

This policy statement articulates the core principles and practices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s evaluation and research activities. This policy reaffirms HUD’s commitment to conducting rigorous, relevant evaluations and to using evidence from evaluations to inform policy and practice.

Recovery Proposals Adopt Proven Approaches to Reducing Poverty, Increasing Social Mobility

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The major planks of recovery legislation being considered by the Biden Administration would build out at national scale programs and policies with substantial track records and a strong base of evidence in the United States and abroad. 

What Works? Evidence and Evaluation Key as States and Localities Spend Aid

Route Fifty

The federal government is urging states and localities to study the results of their American Rescue Plan Act spending and to adopt programs with proven track records.

Resource of the Week:  Data-Driven Governments – List of city and county governments that use data, analysis, process improvement, and/or evidence to continuously improve their services 

City of Alexandria, VA (Greg Useem)

Updated OMB Budget & Performance Guidance

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Annual updated budget and performance guidance to agencies, A-11, released for preparing their FY 2023 budget submissions (drafts due to OMB on September 13). Includes new section (in Part 6 – Federal Performance Framework for Improving Program and Service Delivery) on how agencies need to develop equity action plans by January 20, 2022.

Study to Identify Methods to Assess Equity: Report to the President

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

This report recommends that agency equity assessments be conducted by assembling cross-functional agency equity teams. . . with expertise in evaluation, data science, information technology, program integrity, financial management, acquisition, human resources, and other operational functions.

Tools of Control? Comparing Congressional and Presidential Performance Management Reforms

Public Administration Review (Alexander Kroll, Donald Moynihan)

Article examines claim that the president has a stronger interest in an effective bureaucracy than does Congress. It examines multiple waves of performance management reform, beginning with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.

Trust and Collaboration Kept Cities Afloat During the Pandemic

What Works Cities

How data-driven cities maintained momentum, delivered results, and achieved certification as a “What Works Cities.”

Climate-Forward Government: Seven Lessons for Effective Climate Action

Deloitte Insights

We cannot tackle the 21st century imperatives of climate change with 20th century solutions. Bolder actions and a whole-of-government approach are needed.

How Strategic Foresight Can Help Create Forward-Looking Public Policies

Apolitical

Five lessons for aspiring government foresight practitioners from a scenarios process examining the future of global collaboration

ASPA-CAP Webinar: Trust: A Powerful Tool for Public Servants (August 12 – 1 p.m., Eastern)

Achieving accountability and performance in the public sector rests on trust—that is, trust between the public and public servants, as well as among public servants. Panelists for this webinar will discuss the importance of building and nurturing trust.

Webinar: Meaningful Measurement (August 17)

Centre for Public Impact

Beyond registration for the webinar, this link collates a wide range of materials exploring Meaningful Measurement. Scroll down to explore.

Resource of the Week:  Data Quality Campaign

The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is the nation’s leading voice on education data policy and use. Our mission is to advocate to change the role of data in education so that every student is not only counted, but counts.

NextGen Actionable Insights

Project Evident – July 2021 Newsletter

Project Evident’s Actionable Evidence Initiative works to improve the outcomes of students who are Black, Latino/a/x, or experiencing poverty by promoting “actionable evidence.” 

Evidence-Based Policymaking: Survey Data Identify Opportunities to Strengthen Capacity across Federal Agencies

Government Accountability Office

GAO surveyed about 4,000 federal managers in 2020, and nearly all respondents said they had at least one type of evidence available for their programs. However, many fewer reported that their agencies had sufficient capacity (e.g., staff with skills) to develop and use evidence.

FYI: Here are the survey data details: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-537sp

Evaluating Evidence Building Plans: A Review of Five Federal Learning Agendas

The Data Foundation

The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) requires federal agencies to produce evidence-building plans, or learning agendas.1 While the initial cohort of public learning agendas required by the Evidence Act is not expected to be published until 2022, some agencies have already published learning agendas or produced interim plans offering insights and approaches that may be helpful to other organizations. 

The Value of Organizational Health

PATimes (Andrew Kleine)

When I confront a problem, my first instinct is to gather data. In the same way that I had always obsessed over service delivery metrics, financial trends and outcome indicators, I wanted to measure and monitor the well-being of my organization, which really means the people who do the work. . . . There are seven factors around which to develop your Organizational Health Dashboard. . . . 

Resource of the Week: Analysis of the American Rescue Plan’s Evidence-Based Policymaking Provisions

The Policy Lab

By using the best available data and research to inform decision making, state leaders can ensure federal funding is invested in the most effective programs and policies that will lead to improved state outcomes. 

Centering Racial Equity in Measurement and Evaluation

Urban Institute

This brief explores how racial equity and inclusion can strengthen nonprofits’ measurement and evaluation work and how measurement and evaluation help nonprofits identify inequities and use data to improve the operationalization of REI practices. 

Interim Implementation Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Outlines a whole-of-government approach and directs agencies to develop performance targets to invest in environmental justice initiatives and spur economic development in disadvantaged communities.

Broadcasting Good News, Learning from Bad News

Public Administration

This journal article shows that “decline narratives” (bad news) lead to higher internal use (learning and control purposes) of performance information. In contrast, “increase narratives” (good news) lead to higher external use (giving account and building support purposes) of performance information.

Implementing the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

An overview of the Act, key contact officials at the department, and the role of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Evaluation. 

Performance Highlights Newsletter – July 2021

Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations

Examples of sustained improvements, identified information gaps, improving service coordination and four upcoming evaluations to be completed by 2022.

Resource of the Week: Colorado Department of Transportation’s FY2022 Annual Performance Plan. A great example of what state agencies are doing these days re: performance transparency.