Three keys to a successful agency evaluation office: An interview with Susan Jenkins, Director of the Office of Performance and Evaluation, Administration for Community Living, HHS – Episode #192

What does it take to be a successful evaluation office within a public agency? Three things that are important are being trustworthy, being engaging, and being relentless, explains Dr. Susan Jenkins.

Since 2016, Dr. Jenkins has been the Director of the Office of Performance and Evaluation at the Administration for Community Living (ACL) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also teaches program evaluation at American University and, prior to ACL, served on the evaluation staff of the Peace Corps.

ACL’s mission is to maximize the independence, well-being, and health of older adults, people with disabilities, and their families and caregivers. Both ACL and Dr. Jenkins have been recognized by Results for America for their leadership in creating a culture of evidence-based decision making.

Three keys to a successful agency evaluation office: An interview with Susan Jenkins, Director of the Office of Performance and Evaluation, Administration for Community Living, HHS – Episode #192 Read More »

Lessons from New Hope for reducing poverty today: An interview with Kali Grant, Georgetown University, and Julie Kirksick, former New Hope Executive Director – Episode #191

The New Hope Project was an anti-poverty program in the 1990s in Milwaukee that offered a simple but powerful pledge: If participants were willing to work full-time, they would not be poor. The program used a wage subsidy, support for child care and health insurance, and (if participants needed it) short-term subsidized employment to achieve that pledge.

While the program ended more than 20 years ago, its lessons, including from a five-year randomized evaluation by MDRC and from longer-term research on impacts for children and youth, are especially important today as the nation struggles to tackle racial and economic inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic.

A new brief published by Georgetown’s Center on Poverty & Inequality reexamines the lessons from New Hope and we’re joined by two of its authors. Julie Kirksick (@kerksick) served as New Hope’s Executive Director from 1997 to 2008 and as Associate Director prior to that. Since New Hope, she has held senior roles in human services agencies in both Wisconsin and Colorado. And Kali Grant (@kaligrant) is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality.

Lessons from New Hope for reducing poverty today: An interview with Kali Grant, Georgetown University, and Julie Kirksick, former New Hope Executive Director – Episode #191 Read More »

Evidence-based budgeting in New Mexico: Part 2 interview with Charles Sallee, Deputy Director, Legislative Finance Committee, New Mexico – Episode #190

New Mexico state government is a leader in the use of evidence, lead by its Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) that has been a catalyst for evidence-based budgeting, including through its participation in the Pew MacArthur Results First Initiative. In this part 2 of our interview with Charles Sallee, the Deputy Director of the Legislative Finance Committee, we get an update on progress. That includes:

  • Sharing an example of how credible research influenced policymaking on a key issue in New Mexico, pre-school education.
  • How an important piece of good-government legislation — the New Mexico Evidence and Research-Based Funding Requests Act of 2019 — has spurred the development of program inventories in high-priority policy areas that support evidence-based budgeting.

Evidence-based budgeting in New Mexico: Part 2 interview with Charles Sallee, Deputy Director, Legislative Finance Committee, New Mexico – Episode #190 Read More »

Launching LegisSTAT in New Mexico: Part 1 interview with Charles Sallee, Deputy Director, Legislative Finance Committee, New Mexico – Episode #189

Last month, New Mexico’s Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) did something that that possibly no other legislative committee in the U.S. has done to date: It launched a “PerformanceStat” initiative. As listeners to this podcast will know, the PerformanceStat process was pioneered in New York City for policing and then expanded to other government settings, as with Baltimore’s CitiStat and Maryland’s StateStat. The approach involves ongoing, data-driven performance reviews between leadership and departments or divisions.

New Mexico’s LFC adapted PerformanceStat to a legislative setting, dubbing it “LegisSTAT.” To learn more, we’re joined by Charles Sallee. For more than a decade he has served as the LFC’s Deputy Director.

Learn more: An op-ed in Governing, written by Charles Sallee, LFC Chair Patricia Lundstrom and Andy Feldman discusses the piloting of LegisSTAT in New Mexico.

Launching LegisSTAT in New Mexico: Part 1 interview with Charles Sallee, Deputy Director, Legislative Finance Committee, New Mexico – Episode #189 Read More »

Leading successful change initiatives: An interview with John Kotter, professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School and founder of Kotter International – Episode #188

John Kotter (@JohnPKotter) is one of the most respected thinkers on the topics of leadership and change. He is professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School, a widely-read author, and the founder of Kotter International, a management consulting firm.

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Many of you might know his book Leading Change, which is a classic on the topic and describes eight steps for successfully leading change initiatives. Those steps include: 1) Create a sense of urgency; 2) Build a guiding coalition; 3) Form a strategic vision and initiatives; 4) Enlist a volunteer army; 5) Enable action by removing barriers; 6) Generate short-term wins; 7) Sustain acceleration and 8) Institute change.

His new book, coming out this month, is called Change: How organizations achieve hard to imagine results in uncertain and volatile times. It covers many topics, including how to make strategic planning more successful and impactful, as we discuss in the interview.

Leading successful change initiatives: An interview with John Kotter, professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School and founder of Kotter International – Episode #188 Read More »

Insights from Idaho’s Office of Performance Evaluations: An interview with Rakesh Mohan, Director – Episode #187

Idaho’s Office of Performance Evaluations (OPE) was created in 1994 and is a nonpartisan, independent office that serves the Idaho legislature by conducting evaluations of state agencies and programs, as well as studies of key policy issues. With its staff of seven evaluators, plus its director, OPE’s mission is to promote confidence and accountability in state government.

To learn more, we’re joined by Rakesh Mohan (@RakeshMohanEval). He’s been the director of the office since 2002. OPE was the recipient of the American Evaluation Association’s Outstanding Evaluation Award and Rakesh himself was the recipient of the Outstanding Practitioner Award from the American Society for Public Administration.

Web extras: We discuss additional details about OPE and its work, including the use of contractors to support the work [click here] and the steps from project selection to report creation [click here].

Learn more: A longer interview with Rakesh Mohan hosted by James Pann is available here.

Insights from Idaho’s Office of Performance Evaluations: An interview with Rakesh Mohan, Director – Episode #187 Read More »

Five questions public agencies should ask to put their logic models to work: An interview with Cynthia Phillips, former Acting Chief Evaluation Officer, National Science Foundation – Episode #186

A logic model is a detailed visual representation of an organization or program that expresses the organization’s theory of change. It’s useful for getting a clear and shared understanding of how an office, division, program or initiative works. But what important questions should an organization ask once its created a logic model? To find out, we’re joined by Dr. Cynthia Phillips, who recently retired from the National Science Foundation where she served as the acting chief evaluation officer. She’s also the author of several publications on logic models, including co-authoring the book The Logic Model Guidebook.

Our interview focuses on five questions that organizations can ask, using the logic models they have created:

  1. Are we doing the right work?
  2. Are we doing the work right?
  3. Are our products or services accessed and used as intended?
  4. What difference are we making?
  5. What will it take to sustain our work? And, relatedly, what have we learned?

Five questions public agencies should ask to put their logic models to work: An interview with Cynthia Phillips, former Acting Chief Evaluation Officer, National Science Foundation – Episode #186 Read More »

Three cognitive biases that can influence decision makers’ use of evidence about what works: An interview with Ariel Kalil, University of Chicago – Episode #185

What leads decision makers to decide to implement or scale up a program? Research evidence may be one factor, but, as we know, lots of other factors can play in as well. Three of those factors are what are called cognitive biases, including:

  • confirmation bias
  • status quo bias
  • bandwagon bias

Understanding those biases — which have been well-researched in the past, but are newly being applied to the context of evidence use by decision makers — can help public leaders make better decisions. To learn more, we’re joined by Dr. Ariel Kalil (@ariel_kalil). She’s a developmental psychologist and a professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and directs the school’s Center for Human Potential and Public Policy and co-directs the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab. She’s also an adjunct professor in the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen, Norway.

Three cognitive biases that can influence decision makers’ use of evidence about what works: An interview with Ariel Kalil, University of Chicago – Episode #185 Read More »

Insights from Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact: An interview with Christin Lotz, Director – Episode #184

Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact was created in 2019 by Governor Bill Lee. The office works with the Governor’s office and with Tennessee’s executive agencies to use data and evidence to help decision makers invest in programs that work for Tennesseans. To learn more about the office’s work and what lessons it provides for other states, we’re joined by its director, Christin Lotz (@ChristinLotz). She’s served in state government for more than 15 years and also serves on the recently-created Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building launched by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Additional resources:

  • The budget forms that includes questions about evidence are available from Tennessee’s Department of Finance and Administration website here. Archived copies are also available here and here.
  • The evidence framework is available from the Office of Evidence and Impact website here. An archived copy is also available here.

Insights from Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact: An interview with Christin Lotz, Director – Episode #184 Read More »

Boosting student achievement with high-dosage tutoring: An interview with Carly Robinson and Matthew Kraft, Brown University – Episode #183

A new policy brief examines the research evidence behind tutoring and what design principles for tutoring have shown to be important for boosting K-12 student achievement. The report is titled Accelerating Student Learning with High-Dosage Tutoring. It’s coauthored by Dr. Carly Robinson, Dr. Matthew Kraft and Dr. Susanna Loeb of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, as well as Dr. Beth Schueler of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia.

To learn more, we’re joined by two of the brief’s authors. Carly Robinson (@Carly__Robinson) is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University and Matthew Kraft (@MatthewAKraft) is a professor of education and economics at Brown. Both are former public-school teachers.

Learn more: The brief is part of a series called EDResearch for Recovery produced by Brown, UVA and Results for America that’s designed to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with credible evidence help students respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related initiative: The newly launched National Student Support Accelerator provides comprehensive resources for those interested in implementing high-impact tutoring.

Boosting student achievement with high-dosage tutoring: An interview with Carly Robinson and Matthew Kraft, Brown University – Episode #183 Read More »

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