RA in the News

NCSL Con Hogan Award given to Connecticut for their work on RBA August 7, 2007

August 7, 2007: At their annual meeting in Boston, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) presented the first annual Con Hogan Award to the Connecticut Joint Appropriations Committee and the State Office of Policy and Management for their work on Results Based Accountability (RBA). Con Hogan is former Secretary of the Vermont Agency for Human Services and a widely recognized leader in promoting excellence in government. Connecticut is being recognized for "their achievements in considering how state spending affects key outcomes for Connecticut families and the environment."

Speakers included Sen. Bob Duff, Sen. Toni Harp, Rep Denise Merrill, Rep. Diana Urban, Robert Genuario from the Office of Policy and Management and Susan Shimelman, from the Office of Fiscal Analysis. Numerous other notables from Connecticut included Rep Steve Fontana, Rep Tom Reynolds, Rep. Peter Williams, Rep. John Geragosian, and Rep. Jason Bartlett. Members of AFT are here as well as former Norwalk Mayor Alex Knopf.

Jack Tweedie of NCSL started the presentation saying that he wanted other states to know about what is going on in Connecticut so that they can also begin using "results based accountability." [edited from original]

[Historical note: In 2004, the Government Finance Officers Association gave its annual award for budget presentation to San Mateo County, California for their RBA budgeting work.]

A method to measure the success and accountability of children's services by shifting the focus from process efficiency to outcomes is taking local authorities across the country by storm. Sarah Cooper reports on the outcomes-based revolution.

A revolution is taking place around the country in the way progress on Every Child Matters is measured. Many councils are moving from self- assessment processes based around efficiency to measurement of success based on outcomes. And now it seems the Government is drawing up its own plans to create a national framework to measure progress on meeting the five Every Child Matters outcomes (Children Now, 18-24 April). Some councils have been implementing a similar process, known as Outcomes-Based Accountability, for some years after it was introduced by American Mark Friedman, director of the Fiscal Policy Studies Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Outcomes-Based Accountability aims to establish what outcomes are sought for children and what improvements in their welfare would be required to achieve them. It can pinpoint specific problems and their potential causes, and look at ways of addressing them.

Excerpt: "Community indicators are valuable tools for understanding and improving the quality of life. On Friday March 9, 2007 the Urban Markets Initiative, a program of the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. announced their Community Indicator Innovators 2007 awards. These international awards, sponsored through the Community Indicators Consortium, are for those programs who effectively used information to drive change in their communities. First Place was awarded to the Santa Cruz County Assessment Project sponsored by the United Way of Santa Cruz County for its innovative work and the change it has inspired." (text) In her acceptance speech, Susan Brutschy, President of Applied Survey Research, focused on the importance of Results Accountability in achieving improved outcomes for children and families in Santa Cruz. "We wouldn’t be where we are without using RBA and I know we wouldn’t have received this award without your guidance in staying focused on what really matters. . . turning curves!"

Excerpt: "One of the more important hearings of this legislative session occurred Feb. 13, but only about a dozen people attended. It took place before a legislative subcommittee that is taking baby steps toward making the state government justify how and why it is spending our money.... it’s one of the few serious attempts that has taken place in years to bring scrutiny, not to mention sanity, to the budget process." (text)

Excerpt: "His simple, jargon-free approaches have already helped individual councils, and now the US performance management expert is being asked to galvanise the reshaping of children's services.

The connection between fixing a leaking roof and implementing the Every Child Matters (ECM) programme may not be immediately obvious. But US performance management expert Mark Friedman will today tell children's services' leaders that the two challenges are essentially the same. Not that society's ills will be put right by a few tiles or rolls of duct tape, but the problem-solving techniques are fundamentally identical." (text)