Our growing national debt has dropped out of the headlines recently - but that doesn't mean that the problem has gone away. The truth is that there is no way to address America's debt problem without reforming entitlements. This book provides a critical analysis of these entitlement programs and lays out much needed solutions for real reform.
The Financial Policies, Practices, and Health of Suburban Municipalities
A comprehensive analysis of the financial condition, management, and policy making of local governments in a metropolitan region that offers local governments currently dealing with the Great Recession a better understanding of what affects them financially and how to operate with less revenue.
Evaluation is only of use if its results are communicated to users and stakeholders -- this volume demonstrates how this is done. The authors argue that communication needs to take place throughout the evaluation process. The importance of maintaining a variety of channels of formal and informal reporting mechanisms is shown. The need to tailor the medium and the message for intended audiences and uses is also stressed. How to Communicate Evaluation Findings is a substantially revised version of How to Present an Evaluation Report in the original Kit. The book offers practical tips on how to communicate effectively, on using graphs and tables, and on presenting evaluation reports. Appropriate worksheets are provided.
Education, business and human service settings are included in this revised edition of How to Design a Program Evaluation. Additional examples in these fields makes this volume more relevant to a wider audience in comparison with the first edition. Through the use of diagrams, step-by-step directions, flow charts and extensive examples, the book shows how a variety of design options can be conceived and implemented. Focusing on quantitative designs, it shows what to do when things go wrong and presents detailed methods for collecting, analysing and presenting data for each design.
Changes in the initial stages of the evaluation process over the last decade are reflected in How to Focus an Evaluation. A new book in the series, this volume replaces the first edition's How to Deal with Goals and Objectives. The volume recognizes that deciding what to evaluate is a complex negotiation process that involves the methodological predisposition of the evaluator and the client, client needs, the nature of the programme and the constraints surrounding the evaluation. It outlines five models that characterize different methodological approaches and considers how each may contribute to the focusing process. The text provides advice on how and what type of information to collect from clients, how to clarify and prioritize evaluation concerns, and how to formulate a plan matching evaluation concerns with data collection procedures within cost constraints.
A key element in evaluation, performance measurement, is the subject of this volume, a substantially revised version of How to Measure Achievement of the original Kit. A new feature is the discussion of current issues in performance testing, including those related to legal challenges and test validity. The evaluator's role in performance measurement is discussed, as is the suitability of existing performance measures. Where no appropriate test exists, the authors give step-by-step instructions on how to construct a scientifically reliable and valid one. The analysis and reporting of data gained from performance testing is also described.
How did a US Democratic president and a Republican Congress reach agreement on a five-year plan to balance the budget at a time of intense partisanship, mutual distrust, and suspicion? Daniel J. Palazzolo, a Congressional Fellow for Robert Ehrlich during the budget negotiations, tells the inside story from start to finish, describing the complex workings of policymaking, presidential-congressional relations, committee politics, and congressional leadership. Contrary to conventional assumptions that the American separation-of-powers system is destined to gridlock, Palazzolo argues that the system still works, even under divided government. The budget choices and deficit politics from 1980-1996 are analysed, the author aiming to set the 1997 Budget Agreement in realistic perspective.
Budgeting has long been considered a rational process using neutral tools of financial management, but this outlook fails to consider the outside influences on leaders' behavior. This title shows that political culture and ideological orientations are at least as important as financial tools in shaping budgets.
