Clean Water Act
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act
The instructions, template of an action memorandum and performance research tips will be attached as a file. Please follow the instructions.
Performance Measurement Critique
(1) Select a federal agency program to examine from the list.
(2) Identify the mission statement and purpose for the agency you have selected. The
mission statement may not be presented in the document you downloaded, be sure to
check the agency website to ensure you have the correct agency mission.
(3) Describe the agency’s system of measuring performance, including discussion of key
performance indicators (KPIs) that address its mission. Take time to review:
a) The type of data the agency reports on, and how frequently? Are there input,
output and outcome measures? Offer examples of each type.
b) Are measures reported for every major function of the mission? Offer examples
and, if you think some areas are not covered, explain why that might be and offer
ideas of what measures might capture this information well.
c) How are measures examined in the Measurement Memorandum? For example, are measures clearly
tied to: (i) the budget, (ii) performance assessments, or (iii) the agency mission.
Explain your thoughts.
d) Discuss the techniques applied to analyzing the data from the measures (with
examples). Are there more ways to review the data than presented? Are there
things you would do to improve on the analysis and presentation? If so, how?
e) Give your overall impression about the results of the analysis, as well as the
effectiveness of the presentation.
f) With the above review completed, identify a program that the agency administers
and discuss the program’s mission statement. If the program does not have a
mission statement construct one. If it does, consider ways to improve on what
already exists.
g) Develop and present a logic model for the program.
h) Develop and present some measures for important aspects of the mission and
logic model.
i) Explain what (if anything) you have learned from examining an agency and one
of its programs in this manner – both in terms of the actual entities as well as the
exercise of developing a system of performance measurement.
(4) The critique paper should be 3 to 5 pages, and written in memo format to the agency
Director, single spaced. Use the Action memorandum format.
Performance Projects Research tips
Use government agency sources; academic articles and papers are not appropriate.
You should be using Federal agency websites and documents. You can go to the agency reports links.
You can also use Boolean searches using Google.
TIPS-
Examples of government document sources:
GAO
Government Accountability Office
U.S Inspector’s General Offices
(just a few examples, for government waste, abuse or corruption)
Department of Education
Department of Homeland Security
DOJ
FDA
HUD
Treasury
NSA
Boolean searches
Using the google search engine, use the name of the entity with a space then the + sign, a space then a search term such as CDC, DOI, USDA, SEC or FBI or DOJ (Department of Justice). Example:
Rose Marie O’Reilly + sentenc*
• This will bring up recent articles on sentencing, sentence, sentenced. The DOJ report has not been posted as of this writing, but it will show up soon. Using the search term: sentenc*
brings up anything that starts with sentenc, such as sentencing, sentenced, sentence.
To get only and all government documents use this boolean search term adding:
+ site:gov
Corn Ethanol + site:gov
No child left behind + GAO
No child left behind + site:gov
name of individual + crime committed + site:gov
For example:
• Shivbir Grewal + insider trading + site:gov
You can also use multiple search items such as:
• Shivbir S. Grewal + insider trading + SEC
Don’ts:
• Wikipedia is unacceptable- I do check!
• Citing a source as: “per google” is quite unacceptable and will result in the paper being rejected.
