Several months ago, a coworker noticed I had a “throw down meeting” scheduled on my Outlook calendar. “Is everything OK?” she asked, eyebrows furled. I laughed, and realized I had some explaining to do! I told her “throw down” is slang for “fight” – those of us who work with troubled teens have heard aboutRead… Read more »
Ready for your performance evaluation? Nothing stirs up the stomach like knowing it’s time to find out how you measure up at work. In some organizations, 360 degree evaluations are popular, while many of us receive monthly, quarterly, or yearly evaluations directly from our supervisors. Then there are those impromptu, informal evaluations where a supervisor,Read… Read more »
“Scared Straight” versus “Relate” As Human Services Administrator for the City of Santa Clarita, California, I oversee programs that help young people find jobs, resist drugs, get healthy, learn new skills, and avoid gang membership. We invite ex-gang members to speak to “high-risk” teens and we show teens in our Community Court program videos thatRead… Read more »
If you have been involved in anything with a social media component this past year, then you have no doubt heard people talking about social media metrics, ROI, ROE, etc. These are basically different measures that people are using to define success, or failure, in the use of social media channels. Not too long ago,Read… Read more »
Sometimes it is refreshing to look at how other countries approach the challenge of measuring and managing performance in their governments. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a World Bank seminar where the Secretary of Performance Management for the Government of India described how his country is doing it. Background. In June 2009,Read… Read more »
Non-profits, foundations, and universities are enthused by government’s growing interest in the use of evidence and evaluation. They are chiming in with either support for government initiatives or undertaking their own initiatives. Some non-profits and foundations are advocates for the use of evidence-based decision-making in different policy arenas, while others advocate use of different toolsRead… Read more »
The federal government is not the sole player in the growing movement toward the use of evidence and evaluation in the policy decision-making process. While the federal government is undertaking a number of evidence-based program initiatives, the “moneyball government” movement is broader, encompassing initiatives at the state, local, and even international levels. Examples of State-LevelRead… Read more »
OMB’s guidance to agencies on the development of their FY 2015 budgets promises that “OMB will issue a separate memo at a later date that encourages the increased use of evidence and evaluation, including rigorous testing of innovative strategies to build new knowledge of what works.” This encouragement comes on top of a foundation alreadyRead… Read more »
Policymakers are fixated on short-term budget austerity measures such as furloughs, pay freezes, and conference and travel spending. However, there is a small, but growing effort to take a longer, more strategic look at how to manage austerity by finding what works and targeting dollars there instead of to programs that cannot demonstrate effectiveness. ThisRead… Read more »
Academics don’t always speak the same language as practitioners. But they oftentimes have useful ideas to convey. So how do we bridge the gap between research and practice? I’ve been asked to participate as a “practitioner” on a discussion panel at the upcoming conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) ItRead… Read more »