One Destination, Many Roads:
Envisioning Universal Measures of Economic Mobility
September 9, 2020
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The Dupont Circle Hotel
Dupont Ballroom
1500 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Overview
Federal workforce and human services programs often measure specific program targets rather than shared progress on overarching participant outcomes related to economic mobility. As a result, there is limited evidence of the extent to which these programs promote self-sufficiency and economic mobility, and program silo-ing is reinforced. This forum presents a unique opportunity to convene stakeholders and share expertise from the practitioner, policymaking, and research communities to learn from one another, exchange ideas, and begin the hard work of developing a plan to address this gap.
The challenges of committing to shared outcomes and collecting data to measure them are well-documented, but they are not impossible to overcome. Indeed, localities and organizations are developing innovative strategies on data collection and integration for the purposes of measuring and reporting outcomes across programs to improve their own performance and transparency. Their experiences yield valuable lessons that may help to guide federal efforts. This forum is a foundational element of that learning process and will directly inform the work of the recently established U.S. Interagency Council on Economic Mobility, which is cultivating a shared understanding of the current environment for the measurement of program outcomes related to economic mobility and building a roadmap for the path forward.
Goals and Objectives
- Make a case for the value of measuring and reporting common outcomes across public programs that promote economic mobility. Demonstrate the value to participants, program administrators, policymakers, and the public despite no requirements to do so.
- Showcase and consider best practices for how to measure and report common outcomes across programs.
- Learn from states and counties that are engaged in measurement and reporting of common outcomes.
- Contemplate what it would/should look like at the federal level.
- Begin building a five-year work plan for the U.S. Interagency Council on Economic Mobility workgroup on program outcomes data.
Draft Agenda
| 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | REGISTRATION |
| 9:30 – 9:40 | WELCOME AND OVERVIEW
Katherine Magnuson, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin–Madison Brenda Destro and Jennifer Burnszynski, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| 9:40 – 9: 50 | OPENING REMARKS
TBD |
| 9:50 – 10:20 | KEYNOTE
Robert M. Goerge, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago |
| 10:20 – 10:35 | BREAK |
| 10:35 – 12:00 p.m. | SESSION 1: PRESENTATIONS AND LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION: FEDERAL OFFICIALS LEARNING FROM STATES AND COUNTIES
Moderator: Sara Dube, Pew MacArthur Results First Initiative Presenters/Panelists: Robert Jakubowski, Colorado State Division of Performance and Strategic Outcomes David Mancuso, Washington State Division of Research and Data Analysis TBD |
| 12:00 – 1:15 | LUNCH |
| 1:15 – 2:15 | SESSION 2: BREAKOUT GROUP DISCUSSIONS
Forum participants reflect on what they heard during the first half of the day and apply that to a discussion of potential strategies for and barriers to expanding data integration and the measurement and reporting of participant outcomes at the federal level. |
| 2:15 – 2:30 | BREAK |
| 2:30 – 3:45 | SESSION 3: MODERATED DISCUSSION
Building a Five-Year Work Plan Moderator: Nick Hart, Data Foundation and Data Coalition |
| 3:45 – 4:00 | CONCLUDING REMARKS
Ted McCann, American Idea Foundation |
| 4:00 | ADJOURN |