2015

In 2010, when Mayor Mitch Landrieu took office, New Orleans faced many serious challenges, including the highest murder rate, widespread blight and a dysfunctional city government. Four years later, the city has undergone a remarkable turnaround, with a new culture of results-focused and data-driven government that emphasizes establishing clear strategies, setting specific goals and tracking those goals with data-driven “stat” (aka PerformanceStat) meetings. Those efforts have contributed to important improvements for citizens, including sizable reductions in homicides and blight.

To gain insights for other cities or jurisdictions aiming to tackle tough performance challenges, we’re joined by Andy Kopplin. He is the First Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer of the City of New Orleans, under Mayor Mitch Landrieu. In his role, he oversees the day-to-day operational functions of City Hall.

Mayor Greg Fischer (@louisvillemayor) of Louisville, Kentucky joins us to talk about creating a city government culture that is data driven and results focused. He is a former businessman and entrepreneur who was first elected mayor in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. He was named a “Public Official of the Year” by Governing Magazine in 2013, with the magazine noting, “At the heart of his performance efforts is a focus on data.” Under his leadership, Louisville has launched a PerformanceStat initiative called LouieStat, launched a 311 mobile app, implemented a new open-data policy and launched innovation delivery teams.

In the interview, Mayor Fischer also discusses his work to make Louisville a more compassionate city, including allowing city employees to take two hours of paid time each week to be a mentor.

How can school district leaders, or other state and local education leaders, strengthen student outcomes through innovative low-cost interventions, such as through text messages?

To gain insights, we’re joined by Benjamin Castleman (@BenCastleman), a professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on how behavioral economics and social psychology can improve college access and other measures of success for low-income students.

Web extras: Benjamin Castleman discusses the many decisions that students and parents have to make, from early childhood through college and why those decision points can become bottlenecks — ones that low-cost interventions can help ameliorate. [click here] He also discusses this research on “summer melt” (the fact that a significant fraction of graduating low-income high school students who are planning to attend college that fall end up not going to college) and about low-cost interventions to reduce it. [click here]

What are the key themes of the Obama Administration’s evidence-based policy agenda around grant making and what can state and local leaders learn from those efforts to strengthen the use of evidence in their own jurisdictions?

We get perspective on those questions from Ron Haskins, the author (with Greg Margolis) of Show Me the Evidence: Obama’s Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy. The book describes the development and implementation of six evidence-based social policy initiatives undertaken by the Obama administration, spanning areas such as education, teen pregnancy, employment and training, and health. He also published a related opinion piece in the New York Times.

He is a former White House and congressional advisor on social policy issues. Today he is a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution where he co-directs the Center on Children and Families as well as the Budgeting for National Priorities Project.

Web extras: Ron Haskins discusses the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, one of the six evidence-based social policy initiatives he discusses in his book. [click here]