The performance measurement movement will grow in response to persistent demands for accountability

The performance measurement movement will grow in response to persistent demands for accountability. Performance measurement, in some form or fashion, is now mandated in most local, state, and federal government agencies and in nonprofit organizations led by initiatives from United Way and the World Bank. Expectations from the public and from policymakers who mandated performance measurement are high. Yet most managers lack the expertise to collect meaningful measures of outcomes. Newcomer (2001) notes that professional evaluators will play an important role in making this process more than simply a reporting exercise. Evaluators can help build program theory to link outcomes to program activities and, hence, make the outcome information useful for formative purposes. Further, evaluators’ methodological expertise will be necessary to measure outcomes.
Performance measurement, however, also presents potential hazards for the evaluation field. Just as states’ testing of students on educational standards has grossly simplified learning goals and focused educational evaluation activities on just this issue, so, too, can performance measurement simplify and narrow evaluation activities. Many policymakers and managers underestimate the challenge of measuring program outcomes and, because of the mandated nature of performance measurement, tend to see performance measurement as all that evaluation does. Evaluators need to be active in this area to bring their expertise to bear.