- Home
- Topics
- Improving performance
- Implementing the Recovery Act
- Transforming the workforce
- Collaborating across boundaries
- Contracting & acquisition
- Fostering transparency & democracy
- Managing finances & budgets
- Improving healthcare
- Conserving energy & the environment
- Using technology
- Strengthening cybersecurity
- New to government?
- Magazine
- Radio hour
- Reports
- Blogs
- About us
data quality
Education, Data and the Communications War
Thursday, October 7th, 2010 - 5:00
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - 17:04
The Obama administration seems genuinely concerned with education (as opposed to just paying lip service). In fact, in order to get their portion of the budget stabilization funds for education, governors had to agree to pursue four significant areas of education reform. The four: 1) Increase teacher effectiveness 2) move toward common standards and assessments 3) turn around low-performing schools and 4) set up longitudinal data systems, ultimately designed to track individual student progress from early education to career.
0 comments
264 recommendations
Shhh! Recovery Act Data Keeps Improving
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 - 5:39
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 06:22
Asking hundreds of thousands of private companies, research organizations, universities and governmental entities to provide jobs data was bound to create countless headaches. So, it shouldn't have been a shock that the first recipient reports, required from those who receive Recovery Act funding, were loaded with data problems, including incorrect zip codes, non-existent Congressional districts and missing information. The press was full of stories about all these issues.
0 comments
209 recommendations
Head Start: Looking for Better Data
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 - 5:00
Friday, June 4, 2010 - 08:57
There’s been lots of good news for the nation’s Head Start program. The federal government has already awarded some 93 percent of the $1.5 billion that was designated for expansion of Head Start and Early Head Start. That money has been split into 832 grants, designed to serve some 59,000 children and families. Programs devoted to infants, toddlers and pregnant women are getting an extra boost.
1 comments
Reading these blog entries kind of wears on me - it seems like the culture of government too often focuses on spending the money and meaningless data, at least in terms of outcomes and effective control. Maybe that is too cynical. The persistent theme for ARRA is money that will not be used effectively. Many of these programs do not belong in a stimulus and recovery effort. In the first place the launch time is too long. It seems like a lot of :bright ideas" or pet projects were loaded on the ARRA train. You just can't do so many new things in so short a time. The other major complication is that states., already strapped by budget shortfalls have a hard enough time keeping up with what they were doing without adding on top of that. The final history of ARRA will make interesting reading.
339 recommendations
Education Data: A Conversation with Aimee Guidera
Thursday, May 27th, 2010 - 5:49
Aimee Guidera is the executive director of the Data Quality Campaign, which encourages states to increase the availability and use of education data to help schools and students achieve better results.
She believes that the data requirements put in place as part of the stimulus money for education has the potential to "transform the education sector into an information industry."
0 comments
349 recommendations
Cash for Clunkers: Measuring Performance
Sunday, May 9th, 2010 - 16:04
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 17:02
The GAO recently released a report reviewing the impact of Cash for Clunkers. Beyond good information about that program, this report impressively discusses general questions regarding stimulus implementation and performance measurement. Here’s the conclusion of the GAO’s report: (Note: NHTSA refers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; the emphasis is ours.)
0 comments
357 recommendations
"You can't do the math that way"
Monday, April 12th, 2010 - 10:37
One of the best sources for news reporting about the stimulus is ProPublica. Its staff is particularly savvy about how to dig into the data and seems happy to share its knowledge with journalists elsewhere.
0 comments
173 recommendations
A civilized followup
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 - 16:23
Last week, we noted the excellent back-and-forth between Veronique de Rugy and Nate Silver regarding some of de Rugy's research into stimulus spending. The best part of the debate, at least for us, was that two smart people put aside differences to prod each other to better answers and sharper thinking.
0 comments
295 recommendations
Trying to meet "a gold standard"
Monday, April 5th, 2010 - 9:55
We recently interviewed Chris Patton, Recovery Act director in Wisconsin, to find out more about the improvements to the Wisconsin stimulus website.
Q. Wisconsin did very well on the Good Jobs First evaluation of state Recovery Act websites. What motivated you to make more improvements?
0 comments
428 recommendations
A Civilized Debate
Friday, April 2nd, 2010 - 13:44
Anyone who's interested in how -- and how well -- stimulus dollars are being spent should read the exchange between Veronique de Rugy of George Mason University's Mercatus Center and Nate Silver of 538.com about some pivotal data and quality issues. Of course, we could summarize their points; but we think you'll find it much more illuminating to read through the exchange itself, and let the authors' speak for themselves.
0 comments
190 recommendations
Youth shall be served. . .
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 - 10:00
The Recovery Act included about $1.2 billion to fund jobs for disadvantaged young people, with a healthy portion going to the 2009 Summer Employment Program. The numbers are impressive. About 250,000 youths received job assistance through the pre-existing Workforce Investment Act in 2008. In 2009, with the stimulus dollars, that number grew to 355,000, of which about 88 percent participated during the summer.
0 comments
281 recommendations