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2002 NLPES Fall Training Conference Notes
Award-Winning
Reports
Moderator:
Keynote
Address: Deborah Merritt
Introduction:Database Workshop Information Technology System experts will discuss the process for requesting and using agency data from initial assessment to data analysis. Co-Instructors:Roundtable: The State and Federal Budget Crisis A facilitator will guide participants as they explore how the current budget crisis affects their own agencies and the agencies they audit or evaluate, and share the strategies they have developed to cope with the challenges. Facilitator:Effective Reviewing Participants will learn techniques for reviewing report drafts and providing feedback in a manner that helps new writers to develop their skills. Co-Instructors:AzENet Workshop: Methods for Evaluating Behavioral Health Programs Workshop on design and methods focusing on two current evaluation efforts at Arizona’s Division of Behavioral Health Services. State officials will discuss overall design and methods issues and regional contractor evaluation staff will discuss how they are measuring success at the program level. Methods to be discussed may include baseline/time series studies; fidelity assessment; surveys; focus groups; penetration studies; and some of the challenges associated with measuring a variety of outcomes. Moderator:Evolving Social Welfare Policy This session will examine recent changes in social welfare policy, such as efforts to encourage marriage and move welfare recipients into the workforce. Panelists will also discuss their states’ experience in attempting to build community capacity and respond to changing demographics. In addition, panelists will discuss how these changes have affected their audits/evaluations of social service agencies and programs. Moderator:Using the Web and Email to Get the Message Out This session will explore how states are using the power of the Internet and email to expand their audience, and bridge the gap between auditors/evaluators and citizens as well as more traditional audiences for our products. Moderator:AzENet Methods Workshop Part 2 Changing
Expectations and Demands
Moderator:Legislative Perspectives on Audits/Evaluations A panel of legislators will discuss their perspective on performance audits and program evaluations. What do they look for in our reports, and how can we communicate our message to them most effectively? When we meet with them to discuss their concerns or brief them on our findings, how do they like to interact with us? And how useful are our presentations in legislative hearings? Moderator:
Plenary
Session: Michael Quinn Patton
Introduction:Crosscutting Issues This session will focus on evaluations that cut across agency lines, such as statewide procurement, behavioral health services, and health care regulation. Panelists will discuss policy implications, issue selection, and the challenges of working with several agencies at once. Moderator:Emerging Issues in Governing From think tanks bombarding legislators with propaganda to the continuing changes demanded by balanced budget requirements, prescription drug needs, and welfare reform, states are facing a number of issues as we approach the 2003 legislative session. Learn what forces and issues may shape legislative activity and our own work in the coming year. Panelists will discuss emerging and evolving policy concerns that face their states, as well as important changes in the policy making environment that affect evaluators and auditors. Moderator:Delivering the Message to the Agency This session will focus on effective ways to work with agencies throughout the audit and report-delivery process. Moderator:
Measuring
Outcomes and Agency Effectiveness
Moderator:Privatization: Where are we now? The goal of privatization is to allow private businesses to provide services and products in partnership with government to make government more efficient and cost-effective. Has this initiative stalled? Explore the current status of privatization and states’ experiences. Panelists will also discuss approaches to auditing and evaluating agency privatization efforts. Moderator:Using Graphics to Tell the Story This session will focus on using graphics to maximize the effectiveness of the report. An expert will discuss how to select the most appropriate graphical presentation, when to use and when not to use graphics, and how to ensure your graphics convey the message you want to send. Introduction:Roundtable: Lessons Learned from Performance Measurement Systems This session will focus on what participants and their states have learned over time from using accountability systems, such as benchmarking or performance based budgeting, to assess agency performance. Topics of discussion will include implications of ambitious performance objectives, the impact of external factors (e.g. the economy) on agency performance. Facilitator:Evaluating Sacred Cows Do sports facilities create an economic boom? Does DARE reduce drug use? Discuss the risks and challenges of evaluating popular programs with powerful supporters. From university athletic programs to welfare-to-work programs, learn how to make a strong case for change when perceptions may not be reality Moderator:The Competing Needs of Media and Evaluators: Panel Discussion In this session, panelists will discuss the inherent conflicts as well as common interests between the news media and the legislative program evaluation agency. They will explore how confidentiality affects agencies’ ability to work effectively with the media, and the way deadlines and competing priorities affect news coverage of our findings. Conference attendees will be invited to submit written questions in advance for the panelists to address. Moderator:  Visitor counts for this page. |
