Engaging Communities in the Development of Performance Measurement Plans
Performance measures, also called benchmarks, are indicators that help track program performance and improvement. Tribal Home Visiting Program grantees engage their communities in the development of performance measures that provide useful data for program management, continuous quality improvement, and ongoing assessment of family needs.
“The Community Council assisted in framing questions for our demographic and visitation forms, both of which collect performance measurement data. We went through each question with the council, discussing the order of questions, purpose, wording, rephrasing, and what data the council wanted us to collect.”
— Tribal home visiting grantee
Engagement Strategy 1: Incorporating information from a community needs assessment
A community needs assessment is a systematic way to determine the current needs of the local community. Through a needs assessment, communities gather information using various methods (e.g. record review, focus groups, interviews) to drive program priorities and performance measurement planning. The feedback loops created during the assessment are valuable for gathering community input throughout the performance measurement planning process.
Engagement Strategy 2: Using community advisory groups
Most grantees form and rely on community advisory groups during the development of the performance measurement plans. Involvement of the advisory group varies across grantees. Some grantees engage with the group throughout plan development, while others use the group in the end stages to review and approve plans.
Engagement Strategy 3: Engaging community members in the review of potential measures and measurement tools
Given the lack of measures validated with AIAN populations, community input is often the only way to know how program participants will interpret the terms and concepts in measurement tools. It is best to engage community members in a multistep process for choosing, refining, and obtaining approval for measures and tools.
Engagement Strategy 4: Involving program staff and other stakeholders
In addition to formally engaging community members, grantees can draw on community voices from within their program and from partner agencies. This strategy provides an opportunity to gather staff perspectives and to discuss data collection with other programs that serve families in the community.