Program Evaluation- Measuring Performance or Performance Measurements? Dr. Thomason Unit 3 Kaplan University

Some Key Questions to Consider Tonight Designing performance measurement systems is becoming an important part of the work that evaluators do. What are the key differences between performance measurement and program evaluation as ways of determining program outcomes? Can performance measurement be used to assess the effectiveness of a program? Why or why not?

What are performance measures? Both quantitative and qualitative indicators that express a programs outcomes, outputs, and inputs What are the key elements of these measures? A key is it hinges on performance- so all things tend to revolve around the performance of some function.

Comparing Government to Businesses Is it possible? This trend has led to measuring a programs success. The new public management philosophy

Let’s Look at Performance Management Cycle Page 249 in the textbook. Why is it a cycle? What advantages are there to managing along a performance cycle?

Consider the Case Study of the Falls Prevention Among the Elderly (pp ) Steps of a Typical Cost Effectiveness Analysis They include: 1. Set of Alternative Projects 2. Benefit/Cost 3. Impacts of Select Measurement Indicators 4. Determining Impacts Quantitatively over Life of the Project 5. Monetize 6. Discount Costs and Benefits 7. Compute the NPV Value (net present value) 8. Perform Sensitivity Analysis

Steps in Designing and Implementing Performance Measurement Systems ( ) 1. Identify the organizational champions of this change. 2. Understand what a performance measurement system can and cannot do, and why it is needed. 3. Establish multi-channel ways of communicating that facilitate top down, bottom up, and horizontal sharing of information, problem identification, and problem solving. 4. Clarify the expectations for the uses of the performance information that will be created. 5. Identify the resources available for developing, implementing, maintaining, and renewing the performance measurement system.

Steps Continued 6. Take the time to understand the organizational history around similar initiatives. 7. Develop logic models for the programs or lines of business for which performance measures are being developed. 8. Identify additional constructs that are intended to represent performance for aggregations of programs or the whole organization. 9. Involve prospective users in reviewing the logic models and constructs in the proposed performance measurement system. 10. Measure the key constructs in the performance measurement system. 11. Record, analyze, interpret, and report the performance data. 12. Regularly review feedback from users and, if needed, make changes to the performance measurement system.