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Schools StatNet to Host Inaugural Meeting
| Modeled After the Municipal StatNet, New Group Will Share Data and Exchange Ideas on Best Practices in School Operations and Student Achievement
The new Schools StatNet Coalition will host its first Schools StatNet meeting on Tuesday, May 21, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the Massachusetts International Academy in Marlborough.
Launched with funding from the Executive Office for Administration and Finance's Community Innovation Grant Program, the new Schools StatNet program will convene school districts and municipalities from throughout the state. Program participants will meet quarterly in the coming year to share data and exchange ideas on best practices in school and district operations.
Lead districts on this initiative include Chicopee, Fitchburg, Revere, and Somerville. Other partners supporting the efforts include academic partners, like the Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Tufts University, and State partners, including the Greater Boston District and School Assistance Center and the Executive Office of Education.
If you are interested in attending this meeting or learning about future Schools StatNet events, please complete this short form. For more information, please contact Stephanie Hirsch, Somerville Public Schools, 617.625.6600 ext. 2340, shirsch@somervillema.gov. |
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REMINDER: StatNet Meeting Thursday, April 25, to Focus on Municipal Fire Departments and Districts
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Topic: Performance management in municipal fire departments and districts, including staffing, shifts, equipment, inspections, and EMS.  Date: Thursday, April 25, 2013 Time: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Location: Charlton Public Library, Charlton, MA StatNet is a network of municipal officials using CitiStat or other data-driven performance management approaches. The group gathers three times per year for in-depth discussion of municipal governance, focusing on topics such as police, fire, budgets, constituent relations, and DPWs. Participants include city and town managers, analysts, assistants, personnel directors, department and division managers, budget directors, and others, representing communities of all sizes from throughout the Northeast. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Amy Dain at amy.dain@umb.edu or Michael Ward, Director of Municipal Services, at michael.ward@umb.edu.
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Massachusetts Municipal Performance Management Program Welcomes Five New Municipalities
| Participants Receive Technical Assistance for Starting or Expanding Performance Management Efforts
With the support of funding from the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, the Collins Center has launched a second round of the Municipal Performance Management Program. This innovative initiative provides assistance to Massachusetts municipalities looking to tune up or establish a performance management program or to improve their usage of data in management and policymaking. The five new municipalities that started in March are the towns of Arlington, Greenfield, Wilmington, and Wrentham, and the City of Westfield. They were selected from a pool of municipalities that applied in late January.
Participating municipalities receive the assistance of a trained analyst for roughly one day per week for five months, as well as additional training and support. This program works to launch or update CitiStat (or similar) performance management programs in participating cities and towns, starting with a focus on the Police Department and the Public Works Department (or equivalent divisions), with the potential to move into other departments depending on the pace of the work. CitiStat is a leadership strategy that involves the mayor or city/town manager/administrator holding regular meetings with department heads where they use data to analyze the department's past performance, follow-up on previous decisions, establish performance objectives, and examine the effectiveness of the department's strategies.
In addition to the five new municipalities, approximately 18 of the 20 municipalities that started in the first round of the program have become or are in the process of becoming fee-paying participants in the initiative.
Plans are underway to introduce a third round of new Massachusetts municipalities into the program in September. Applications will likely be solicited in May or June.
For further information, please contact Michael Ward at michael.ward@umb.edu or 617.287.4824.
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White House Performance Management Expert to Speak at UMass Boston
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 The John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies cordially invites you a public lecture featuring Shelley H. Metzenbaum, PhD, Associate Director for Performance and Personnel Management Office of Management and Budget. She previously served as founding director of the Collins Center for Public Management.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
UMass Boston's Campus Center Ballroom
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
Metzenbaum will discuss several performance management topics including:
- Making government work better at federal, state, and local levels
- Perceptions vs. reality
- Democratic accountability
- Engagement beyond government
Following Shelley's address, a distinguished panel will respond. Our panelists are Maggie Hassan, Governor of New Hampshire; Peter Canellos, editor of the Boston Globe Editorial Page; Ron Marlow, Asst. Secretary for Access and Opportunity, Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance; Michael P. Johnson, Associate Professor of Public Policy, McCormack Graduate School, UMass Boston.
Please RSVP to rashelle.brown@umb.edu.
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New England Journal of Public Policy Relaunch
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 The John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston launched the new online edition of the New England Journal Public Policy in March on the digital repository, ScholarWorks.
The New England Journal of Public Policy (NEJPP) was founded in 1985 at the then John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs. Padraig O'Malley, a senior fellow at the institute, was founding editor and continued in that capacity until the last hard copy issue was published in 2007. O'Malley is now the John Joseph Moakley Chair of Peace and Reconciliation at McCormack Graduate School and continues as the journal's online editor.
According to O'Malley, "During the last six years, the journal was not published in hard copy for all the usual reasons - rising printing costs, the revolution in social media, and a readership migrating towards online resources."
The first online edition will include a selection of the best articles that were published during the journal's 20+ years.
Ira A. Jackson, dean of the McCormack Graduate School, wrote the foreword of the first online issue and notes the wide range of topics, their importance in modern society, and their relation to the policy school which he leads. "The prior forty-one issues of the New England Journal of Public Policy have tackled topics ranging from AIDS and homelessness to regional economic recovery to just wars and women in politics. ... What rings through across topics is an openness to both new ideas and reality as lived on the ground, and a desire to courageously tackle some of the biggest and most intractable and even uncomfortable issues of our time. In reading past issues, I sense a normative approach that explicitly seeks to make our world, both locally and nationally, not only better understood but also more equitable and just. Nothing could better exemplify our mission as a school."
O'Malley seeks input for future issues, noting, "With the resumption of this publication online, we invite you to scroll through the archived issues to get an idea of the breadth of our policy interests, give us feedback, and help us in the search for authors whose work you believe should receive consideration for publication."
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April Online Performance Management Course
| Learn How Performance Management Can Enhance Your Organization
 Registration is now open for our online course, "Performance Management in Government and Non-Profits". This six week course will provide you with the tools necessary to identify organizational goals and strategies and use data to measure outcomes. This management approach leads to improved organizational performance and enhanced communication. Many organizations have found this online approach to be a convenient way to offer their staff professional development without ever having to leave the office. Enrolling a group allows people to progress at their own rate while, at the same time, work together with colleagues to implement performance management in their organization.
In the current environment of heightened accountability, government organizations and non-profits are increasingly adopting management approaches focused on using goals and performance indicators to increase effectiveness and communicate accomplishments. Municipal, state, and federal government employees as well as nonprofit managers interested in better understanding this approach to management and in building related skills will benefit from this course. The knowledge and tools gained will be extremely valuable in helping to set an organization on the path of management for results.
Classes start on April 21 and run through June 2, 2013.
For more information or to register for this course, click here, or contact Shona Jackson at 617.287.6934 or shona.jackson@umb.edu.
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Summer Online Policy Courses Offered From Our Friends at UMass Amherst
|  The Center for Public Policy and Administration at UMass Amherst is offering three exciting online courses this summer, open to both graduate and undergraduate students, as well as professionals and continuing education students. This summer's offerings are "LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Issues" (May 20-June 28); "Intro to Geographic Information Systems" (July 8-Aug. 16); and "Social Movements and Public Policy" (July 8-Aug. 16). Each course is three credits. Enrollment is now open.
For more information, contact Kathy Colon at 413.545.3940, or kcolon@pubpol.umass.edu.
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The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management
John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125
Phone: 617.287.4824
FAX: 617.287.5566
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Volume 5, Issue 2
April, 2013
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Collins Center in the News
Sherborn Selectmen Finalize Town Meeting Warrant
The Sherborn-Dover Press, March 21, 2013
At Collins Center Conference, Gov. Patrick Announces Next Phase of Performance Management Efforts
UMass Boston News, March 20, 2013
Medford Housing Authority Reaches Agreement for New Executive Director Job
Medford Transcript, March 06, 2013
Daily Hampshire Gazette, February 25, 2013
State Award to Help School Districts Share Data
Sentinel & Enterprise, February 19, 2013
Selectmen Initiate
Collins Report Recommendations
Carlisle Mosquito, February 13, 2013
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About Ed Collins
Throughout his outstanding public career, Edward J. Collins, Jr. epitomized the spirit and goals of the center that now bears his name. We at the Collins Center are proud to continue the work of Ed's life - helping governments work effectively and productively for the benefit of their citizens.
More about Ed Collins
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