Improving Public Services

International Experiences in Using Evaluation Tools to Measure Program Performance

Edited by Douglas J. Besharov, Karen J. Baehler, and Jacob Alex Klerman

International Policy Exchange

Builds a bridge between the evaluation and management / public administration disciplines.
Many chapters apply a specific evaluators' technique -- the logic model -- to the study of performance measurement and management.
Presents original research on the use and impacts of performance measurement and management in government and the non-profit sector in the US and other countries.
Highlights both successes and failures of performance measurement and management; presents reasoned evidence and arguments on both sides of the debate about the performance. movement; both critical and constructive perspectives are included.
Includes both country-specific chapters and chapters that cut across countries.
Demonstrates that different types of organizations in different parts of the world struggle with the same obstacles to good practice in performance measurement and management. Much can be learned across national and organizational boundaries.
Makes clear that measuring performance is only one very small step in the direction of managing for performance; the one does not automatically lead to the other.

Improving Public Services

International Experiences in Using Evaluation Tools to Measure Program Performance

Edited by Douglas J. Besharov, Karen J. Baehler, and Jacob Alex Klerman

Description

The government performance movement has been in full swing for decades around the world. So, why do so many public programs and organizations continue to underperform? A major reason is that measuring the types of performance that people value most -- real outcomes for citizens -- continues to be an elusive goal. And why is performance measurement so difficult? Because performance managers have not taken full advantage of the tools and knowledge available in the field of program evaluation; the worlds of performance measurement and program evaluation have much to learn from each other, but they remain largely separate for reasons of history, politics, and inertia.

Improving Public Services spotlights recent advances in the theory and practice of performance measurement with potential to bridge the divide. As the text's essays, case studies, and comparative analyses demonstrate, many of the challenges to outcome-based performance measurement are similar across national and cultural boundaries. And many of these challenges are amenable to solutions drawn from program evaluation, especially program theory as captured in logic models.

Key issues addressed include designing and implementing high-performance contracts, using administrative data to measure performance and evaluate program effectiveness, minimizing the unintended consequences of performance-based incentive schemes, measuring qualities of governance as well as service delivery, and fitting performance systems to different institutional settings. The authors offer insights relevant to charitable organizations, private service providers, international bodies, municipalities, states, and national governments in developed, developing, and transitional countries. As the global debate over performance management rages on, this volume points to promising directions for future research and practice at the intersection of program evaluation and outcome-based public management.

Improving Public Services

International Experiences in Using Evaluation Tools to Measure Program Performance

Edited by Douglas J. Besharov, Karen J. Baehler, and Jacob Alex Klerman

International Policy Exchange

1. Introduction
Douglas J. Besharov, Karen Baehler, Jacob Klerman

Part 1: Unifying Themes

2. Modern Performance Measurement: Monitoring Program 'Outcomes' Instead of 'Impacts'
Douglas J. Besharov, Douglas M. Call

3. Measuring and Managing Farther along in the Logic Model
Karen Baehler, Jacob Klerman

4. Indicators, Assessments, and Benchmarking of the Quality and Governance of Public Human Development Services
Ariel Fiszbein, Dena Ringold, Halsey Rogers

5. Does Measuring Performance Lead to Better Performance?
Mary Bryna Sanger

Part 2: National Applications

6. Top-Down Strategies for Service Improvement in UK Public Services
James Downe, Steve Martin, Tony Bovaird

7. Quality Improvement and Performance Measurement in Israeli Social Services
Tamar Zemach-Marom

8. Institutional Contexts and Service Delivery Reforms
Ariel Fiszbein, Yasuhiko Matsuda

9. Performance-Based Payments in the Turkish Health System
Gulbiye Yenimahalleli Yasar, Pinar Guven-Uslu

Part 3: Performance Contracting

10. Holding Nonprofits Accountable for Accomplishments, Not Appearances
Christina Standerfer, Joseph Schafer

11. Welfare-to-Work Performance-Based Contracts in New York City
Swati Desai, Lisa Garabedian, Karl Snyder

12. The Efficiency of Contracting Out Local Public Services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Beata Mikusova Merickova, Juraj Nemec, Zuzana Vozarova

13. Workforce Development Program Performance over the US Business Cycle
Kevin Hollenbeck, David Pavelchek

Part 4: Conclusion

14. Using Logic Models to Strengthen Performance Measurement
Douglas J. Besharov, Douglas M. Call

Index

Improving Public Services

International Experiences in Using Evaluation Tools to Measure Program Performance

Edited by Douglas J. Besharov, Karen J. Baehler, and Jacob Alex Klerman

International Policy Exchange

Author Information

Douglas J. Besharov, JD, is the Norman and Florence Brody Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, where he teaches courses on poverty, welfare, children and families, policy analysis, program evaluation, and performance management. He is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where he leads a program in international policy exchanges. In 2008, he was President of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and is currently APPAM's International Conference Coordinator.

Karen Baehler, PhD, is Scholar in Residence at the American University School of Public Affairs. Her research focuses on the theory and practice of policy analysis in social and environmental policy. She holds a PhD in Policy Sciences from the University of Maryland College Park.

Jacob Alex Klerman, MA, is a Principal Associate and Senior Fellow with Abt Associates in Cambridge Massachusetts and the Editor of Evaluation Review. His research focuses on labor market policy, nutrition policy, and evaluation methods.

Contributors:

Karen Baehler
Department of Public Administration and Policy
American University
Washington, DC, United States

Douglas J. Besharov
School of Public Policy
University of Maryland
College Park, MD, United States

Tony Bovaird
School of Government and Society
University of Birmingham
Birmingham, United Kingdom

Douglas M. Call
School of Public Policy
University of Maryland
College Park, MD, United States

Swati Desai
The Rockefeller Institute of Government
State University of New York
Albany, NY, United States

James Downe
Public Policy and Management
Cardiff Business School
Cardiff, United Kingdom

Ariel Fiszbein
Inter-American Dialogue
Washington, DC, United States

Lisa Garabedian
NYC Human Resources Administration
New York, NY, United States

Pinar Guven-Uslu
Essex Business School
University of Essex
Colchester, United Kingdom

Kevin Hollenbeck
W.E. Upjohn Institute
Kalamazoo, MI, United States

Jacob Klerman
Abt Associates
Cambridge, MA, United States

Steve Martin
Public Policy and Management
Cardiff Business School
Cardiff, United Kingdom

Yasuhiko Matsuda
World Bank
Washington, DC, United States

Beata Mikusova Merickova
Faculty of Economics
Matej Bel University
Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

Juraj Nemec
Faculty of Economics and Administration
Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic

David Pavelchek
Washington State Workforce Board
Olympia, WA, United States

Dena Ringold
World Bank
Washington, DC, United States

Halsey Rogers
World Bank
Washington, DC, United States

Mary Bryna Sanger
The New School
New York, NY, United States

Joseph Schafer
Independent Nonprofit Consultant
Little Rock, AR, United States

Karl Snyder
NYC Human Resources Administration
New York, NY, United States

Christina Standerfer
Clinton School of Public Service
University of Arkansas
Little Rock, AR, United States

Zuzana Vozarova
Faculty of Economics
Matej Bel University
Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

Gulbiye Yenimahalleli Yasar
Faculty of Health Sciences
Ankara University
Ankara, Turkey

Tamar Zemach-Marom
Center for Quality Assurance in the Social Services
Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute
Jerusalem, Israel