4.3: Budget and Performance Integration

Achieve budget and performance integration to link funding decisions to results.

Other Information:

Budget and performance integration is one of the five governmentwide management initiatives in the President’s Management Agenda. It builds on the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and earlier efforts to link strategic program goals and performance measures to funding decisions. One aspect of this initiative is the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which OMB uses to identify program strengths and weaknesses in order to inform program management and funding decisions and make programs more effective. Many Department programs are benefiting from the PART reviews performed to date. With the release of the FY 2008 President’s budget, 89 programs will have undergone a PART review, representing 96 percent of the Department’s FY 2006 budget authority. Although 37 programs constituting 86 percent of Department budget authority have been rated adequate or higher in their PART reviews, four programs were found to be ineffective, and 48 programs could not be rated because their results could not be demonstrated. Strategy 1. Hold people and programs accountable for budget and performance integration. The Department will use organizational assessments to set specific targets and milestones for all Principal Offices to hold them accountable for making progress toward the achievement of the Department’s objectives for budget and performance integration. Strategy 2. Improve performance measurement and data collection. The Department has developed annual, long-term, and efficiency measures for nearly all programs, but valid and reliable data are not available for many of these measures. The new EDFacts data tool will make data reporting and analysis more efficient by providing a central source for K–12 education and performance data reported to the Department by state educational agencies and other grantees. The Department will continue to develop and implement data collection strategies for programs that cannot measure their performance currently. Strategy 3. Use performance information to inform program management and performance. Even where data are available from administrative records, rigorous evaluations, or grantee reports, Department staff have not always used these data to inform practice. The Department will use performance information, including efficiency data, to target monitoring and technical assistance to programs and grants with the greatest need. In particular, the Department will use data to improve programs that lack evidence of effectiveness so that these programs can demonstrate better results in future PART reassessments.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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