NLPES Awards Program

Florida Wins 2000 NLPES Excellence in Research Methods Award

2000

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH METHODS

OFFICE OF PROGRAM POLICY ANALYSIS AND GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

John Turcotte, Director

The National Legislative Program Evaluation Society presents its 2000 Award for Excellence in Research Methods to Florida's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). OPPAGA's winning submission is entitled, Best Financial Management Practice Review: Polk County School District, June 1999.

The Florida Legislature assigned OPPAGA a very difficult task -- developing a system for assessing school districts' financial practices. OPPAGA met this challenge through the use of a comprehensive, innovative research design. An important part of OPPAGA's approach was developing a framework of "best financial management practice" questions that could be used for both self-assessment and external evaluations. After developing the framework, OPPAGA published the self-assessment instrument on the Internet and used this approach, as well as others, to assess the financial practices of several school districts.

NLPES commends OPPAGA for its service to the citizens of Florida and its contributions to the field of legislative program evaluation.