Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Harry P. Hatry on Governance

The Urban Institute and National League of Cities developed this series of 10 guides for city and county elected officials, and their staffs, to help them obtain and use information about the results of their governments' services in helping their citizens. The Guides address such issues as: improving strategic planning; improving budgeting decisions; reviewing programs throughout the year; helping motivate their government's employees and contractors; and two-way communications with citizens on what citizens are getting for their money. Specific actions are suggested, and examples are provided.

Providing the best possible government services to our citizens requires accountability and effective measurement of performance. It's been 15 years since Congress passed the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, which requires each federal agency to develop strategic plans, annual performance plans, and performance reports. The time is right to review the performance improvement process so the new administration can build on, and exceed, previous results.

Accountability is core to high-performance government, efficient service delivery, and taxpayers’ confidence in local government. In turn, performance measurement is key to accountability. Performance measurement is the subject of How Effective Are Your Community Services? This book highlights the practical steps necessary to select measures of service quality and use them efficiently. It enables you to assess whether you’re doing the right things and how well you’re doing them.

Long before reinventing government came into vogue, the Urban Institute pioneered methods for government and human services agencies to measure the performance of their programs. This comprehensive guidebook synthesizes more than two decades of Harry Hatry's groundbreaking work. It covers every component of the performance measurement process, from identifying the program’s mission, objectives, customers, and trackable outcomes to finding the best indicators for each outcome, the sources of data, and how to collect them. Hatry explains how to select indicator breakouts and benchmarks for comparison to actual values, and describes numerous uses for performance information. Since the publication of the first edition in 1999, the use of performance measurement has exploded at all levels of U.S. government, in nonprofit agencies, and around the world. The new edition has been revised and expanded to address recent developments in the field, including the increased availability of computer technology in collecting and presenting information, the movement to use outcome data to improve services, and the quality control issues that have emerged as data collection has increased. It is an indispensable handbook for newcomers and an important resource for experienced managers looking to improve their use of outcome data.

The work described in this report first provides suggested core indicators for 14 categories of nonprofit organizations and then expands the notion of common core indicators to a much wider variety of programs by suggesting a common framework of outcome indicators for all nonprofit programs. This can provide guidance to nonprofits as they figure out what to measure and how to do it and will work to ease the looming reporting nightmare that will occur unless a common framework for outcome measurement emerges.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) recognized the relationship between adult education and workforce development and the need for accountability in all literacy, training, and employment programs. Enacted as Title II of WIA, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) required substantial changes in the operations of state and local adult education programs, including allocation of funds, accountability and performance measurement, and the relationship between adult education and one-stop delivery systems. This report synthesizes information from a survey of all state directors of adult education and site visits to nine local programs in five states. Findings relate primarily to the first 18 months of AEFLA implementation.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) recognized the relationship between adult education and workforce development and the need for accountability in all literacy, training, and employment programs. Enacted as Title II of WIA, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) required substantial changes in the operations of state and local adult education programs, including allocation of funds, accountability and performance measurement, and the relationship between adult education and one-stop delivery systems. This report synthesizes information from a survey of all state directors of adult education and site visits to nine local programs in five states. Findings relate primarily to the first 18 months of AEFLA implementation.

Harry Hatry, a national expert on performance measurement, provides examples of nonprofit and government agencies that have installed and used systematic processes to regularly monitor and improve the quality of their services to the public. Service improvement, not merely measurement, is the central theme. The author also introduces a recently released series of six guides on how nonprofits and government agencies can develop key outcome measures and manage for results.

Any organization with an outcome measurement system will quickly accumulate lots of data. Before those raw data can be used to help improve services, they need to be converted into useable information, through the process of analysis. This guide provides step-by-step basic procedures that can be used each time the outcome data become available. Even though nonprofits provide diverse services, this approach can be applied in most programs. Ongoing analysis, completed on a regular basis, can provide a stream of key information about clients and results that can help organizations improve their services.

As outcome-reporting requirements from governments, United Ways, foundations, and other funding sources increase in number and complexity, nonprofit providers may be overburdened collecting the information they need for accountability to their funders and what they need to help improve services. Agreement between funders and service providers on a common core set of outcome indicators for reporting can greatly help balance these needs for information. Based on an effort in Montgomery County, Maryland, supported by government, the local United Way, and other funders, this guide describes how community funders and service providers can work together to develop these common indicators.